Last month Eddie Hearn revealed he had a made an offer for his unbeaten light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi to face Anthony Yarde.
The two Londoners have been linked to one another ever since their careers started gathering momentum. But following Yarde’s loss to Lyndon Arthur in December 2020 it was beginning to look like the time had passed.
Yarde has since bounced back exacting revenge on Arthur in their 2021 rematch to propel himself into the number one slot and mandatory position for Joe Smith Jr’s WBO light-heavyweight world title. Buatsi, still unbeaten in 15 fights, is ranked in the top five across all four of the organisations and is closing in on a world title shot himself.
Boxing Social asked Warren for his response to Hearn’s offer for Yarde to fight Buatsi.
“We’re not interested because he’s the mandatory, why would we want to give that position up for? If he [Yarde] beats Joe Smith what a great fight that would be then against Buatsi.”
The possibility of the fight ever taking place has always seemed a distant one. One of them winning a world title may open the door wider but, in the meantime, both men will carry on taking separate routes. Yarde now has to wait and see if Smith agrees a deal to fight Artur Beterbiev in a unification bout this summer.
While Buatsi waits for his first date in 2022 Warren had an idea of his own for the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist.
“He [Hearn] should do what we did. We put Yarde in with Lyndon Arthur, not once but twice. He’s got Callum Smith why not make Callum Smith v Buatsi. That’s what I would do. I’d make that fight. That’s a great fight. I’d go and see it.”
Former super-middleweight champion Smith has recently become the WBC number one challenger to Artur Beterbiev’s crown and is due to return in April. Buatsi is three spots below him in those particular rankings. While Smith v Buatsi is a terrific looking fight on paper it is highly unlikely that Hearn would risk their world title aspirations by putting the two together in a high stakes fight.
Click here to watch the rest of our interview with Frank Warren interview in full.