Round-by-Round: Joshua Buatsi vs. Marko Calic - 4 October 2020

[jameswilson]

Hope Callic gets some more work and decent pay day over here. If Buatsi goes on to win a World title you'd assume Calic is there or thereabouts to win a European title.

I know he didn't bowl the guy over but Buatsi impressed me, Calic was a bit dirty at times I saw the head and elbows going in there a fair bit and Buatsi didn't moan like a bitch and gave it back to him a bit.

[ScottDetonator]

Calic broken jaw by sound of it, thought it was an orbital tbh.

Good gut check for Buatsi

[skanksta]

Calic quit a bit easily, but he knew he'd spent his tank on the first 6.
Good learning fight from Buatsi - showed he's not quite as good as the hype and needs a few more fights around Brit/domestic..

[Cholo_cws]

Calic didn’t even protest.

Good fight. Good test for Buatsi.

I think he told them to stop it.

...or told them something was wrong.

[dookus]

Hope Callic gets some more work and decent pay day over here. If Buatsi goes on to win a World title you'd assume Calic is there or thereabouts to win a European title.

I know he didn't bowl the guy over but Buatsi impressed me, Calic was a bit dirty at times I saw the head and elbows going in there a fair bit and Buatsi didn't moan like a bitch and gave it back to him a bit.

He dealt with the holding well - stuck his forearms in Calic's face and stiff-armed him every time.

[jonp]

I think it's a shame Ed Robinson is not still with Sky and interviewing Whyte.

Eds still with sky hes the main man behind the scenes

[skanksta]

Calic broken jaw - fair enough to bail out then.

[CaptainSpacerod]

Enjoyable fight. Props to both guys.

They mentioned Callum Johnson as a possible opponent, why hasnt he fought for so long ?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Calic didn’t even protest.

Good fight. Good test for Buatsi.

I think he told them to stop it.

Yeh, I did see him looking over at the corner.

[rd350lc]

Calic broken jaw - fair enough to bail out then.

Fair doos , shame as he wasn't doing too badly .

[Ruthless-RKO]

These are the kind of tests that Yarde needed before he stepped up big time. He just took one big massive step up and gassed.

[margaret thatcher]

If Yarde beat Calic , Calic would just be called an 11 fight bum who'd never beaten anyone , let alone been anywhere close to Sergey Kovalev level, let's be honest

and even if yarde gives a round or two away at the start when he's just having a look , people start to say 'limited', unimpressive, will be outboxed etc. even just taking some rounds to get a ko gets him that

buatsi does that , vs a guy who reaelly done nothing as a pro, and it's a good test that's really gonna reap the benefit etc

that said, buats is legit no doubt to me

[Ricky]

Calic broken jaw - fair enough to bail out then.

Fair doos , shame as he wasn't doing too badly .

He was saved by the bell in r5, he was a spent force imo.

[jameswilson]

If Yarde beat Calic , Calic would just be called an 11 fight bum who'd never beaten anyone , let alone been anywhere close to Sergey Kovalev level, let's be honest

and even if yarde gives a round or two away at the start when he's just having a look , people start to say 'limited', unimpressive, will be outboxed etc. even just taking some rounds to get a ko gets him that

buatsi does that , vs a guy who reaelly done nothing as a pro, and it's a good test that's really gonna reap the benefit etc

that said, buats is legit no doubt to me

To be fair read the comments about this fight before. Everyone saying a pointless fight and the rest of it. Calic definitely proved to be a lot better than we all thought.

One things for sure. Calic won't be fighting on any Queensbury bills in a hurry.

[margaret thatcher]

I don't doubt for one second that if Yarde had been in there, it would be presented as yarde being not very good or performng not too well instead of calic being boosted as better than anticipated and some nice test, like i said, even if yarde just takes a round or two to get going, it's oh wow he's limited isnt he, not wow the opponent was actually pretty decent

i like them both but for some reason there is a general dislike of a yarde with buatsi being framed more as the good guy of the two, he defo gets more breaks from people even though he turned pro with much more serious am experience and shouldve been moved at a faster rate...but to me he's really fought no one that gives him a one up on yarde for opposition, even though he may well be the better fighter

oko's progression poos on them both

[ElJefe]

Buatsi got caught with a fair few right hands in the early rounds. I'm sure plenty were partially blocked but a few definitely got through. Looks to me like someone who has confidence in his own chin, but it's not something he wants to be relying on as he moves through the levels. He's comes across as a smart guy though, I'm sure he'll learn a lot from tonight.

By the sounds of things Eddie wants him in with a Blake Caparello 'World level gatekeeper' type in his next fight.

[morm]

Buatsi was tested.... Calic good preformans, short time to prepare ... after 6 round no more power
Good fight !

[mickey1975]

Looking at Buatsi's amateur record, it claims that he beat ex Brit champ Bobbie Vanzie in the 2015 ABA final! I'm guessing it's a mistake!!

Also I noticed with Vanzie they are listing a bare knuckle fight he had.

I never realised that BKB's results are being shown on Boxrec now

It was Ashley Vanzie....
BKB going on there really winds up the unlicensed lads!

[mickey1975]

Hedges amateur achievements could be deceptive. He never boxed senior, so, with the head guard and a 6’5 southpaw style, he will have been hard to match and very hard to tag in the amateurs. Probably only boxed once or twice in the champions every year.

[Ruthless-RKO]

"His jaw was broken," said Buatsi afterwards.

"In the third round I felt my swelling. I thought 'damn!' You do what you've got to do. He went southpaw so I looped the right hand. He hid it, but he was hurt. This guy said he was coming to burst the Buatsi bubble. I was here to defend it.

"People didn't know about him, the spectators and the public, but in our camp and within our team, we knew he was a good fighter. I was out for 400 days. We bit down on the gum shield and we got the win. This is a gentleman's sport, big credit to Marko Calic. I wish him nothing but the best. I wish him good health. Maximum respect to him.

"He came in and he gave me a good run for my money. I hope he gets home safely to Croatia. It was a hard fight but I learned. He didn't just come to make up the numbers. He was a good fighter, heading into our fight unbeaten. I couldn't see his right hands, I adapted. I dealt with it. If the World Title fight in 2021 opportunity is presented, and I've had the right fights, then absolutely."

[handsofstone]

Stoppage looked strange but reading through here seems Calic had a broken jaw so no complaints then really, job done in the end for Buatsi but it was a tough night, he kept getting nailed by clean right hands and was being out muscled in the inside, thought Calic looked class TBF, threw some nice shots downstairs and closed Buatsi's eye, i wouldnt say there was a round Buatsi won definitively, he did come good in the end though, forced a knockdown then forced the corner to wave it off, some questions though about how Buatsi can get tagged repeatedly

[Ruthless-RKO]

Calic was ahead at the time off stoppage IMO. Maybe by 1 or 2 rounds.

Obviously, job done in the end by Buatsi, is was him that caused the broken jaw..

Putting Calic in with Buatsi was like putting Cheeseman in with Sergio Garcia was it?

Buatsi hardly showed any head movements, that's why Calic's right hand was landing so much as well.

Calic's team did their homework too, did their best t avoid the body shots.

[jameswilson]

Hedges amateur achievements could be deceptive. He never boxed senior, so, with the head guard and a 6’5 southpaw style, he will have been hard to match and very hard to tag in the amateurs. Probably only boxed once or twice in the champions every year.

Classic case of turning pro too early just for the sake of turning pro.

Hennessy jr exactly the same.

[dr_devious]

Buatsi's defence is too porous for him to get far with the top boys. Berterbiev would be a train smash and Bivol would hammer him too. Got found out to an extent last night imo.

[Grilling Machine]

I'm curious about Buatsi's height in relation to his weight. Listed at 5'9" as an amateur, and between 6'0.5" and 6'2" as a pro. I reckon the middle one seems most likely, but I've never met him or seen him with anyone I know.

And then he's walking around at 172, which is perfect for SM at his age IMO. I'm mostly an advocate of staying within 7lb of your fighting weight, but at LH he's against guys cutting 10lb+. If Yarde walks around at 182 that's a biggish gap, although Yarde's known to gas and Buatsi gets to fight at 100% fitness.