This weekend sees the debut of the Joshua Buatsi-Virgil Hunter partnership and the British light heavyweight is looking forward to showing the improvements he has made.
The 28-year-old Londoner (13-0, 11 KOs) teamed up with Hunter in March and this weekend returns to the ring against unbeaten Frenchman Daniel Blenda Dos (15-0, 8 KOs) in Matchroom’s bill topper at the Manchester Arena.
“After my last fight in October I said, ‘I’m out of here’. I’ve come out here to learn more and add things to my game,” Buatsi said in a Matchroom press release.
Buatsi now trains in San Francisco with Hunter who trained modern great Andre Ward. The American trainer was also in the corner for some of Amir Khan’s biggest fights.
“It’s totally different living out here,” said the 2016 Olympic medallist.
“It’s great, it’s nice and the views are amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it, but I’m here just for boxing. The main goal is purely to come out here to gain experience and learn as much as I can. It’s going really well so far.”
“Sometimes in the corner, it’s not really even boxing advice that he’s giving me, it’s just something totally different,” Buatsi added.
“It’s linked to boxing, so I’ll do it and I’ll be like, ‘cool, that worked’. It’s a whole different spin and approach from him but I’m really enjoying it.”
Buatsi says he is looking to go into the ring on Saturday night and “handle business” as usual and doesn’t really go too much into reading about his opponents and their previous fights.
“I’ll be there listening to the instructions that Virgil is going to give me. I’m very excited. I’m looking forward to showing people what I’ve been learning out here.
“Ultimately, I’m fighting to win. However, it looks, my primary goal is to always win. We’ll be stepping up. Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll look to get rid of them and to keep building and learning. I’ve got older heads around me to guide what I’m doing. You have to consider what they’ve got to say because they’ve been there and done it.”
Main Image: Mark Robinson