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

[dookus]

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.

Totally agree. World of difference between fighting junior ams and going in with pros. He should have waited.

[maverick23]

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.

I met him at AJ vs Parker and he’s at least 6’0. Really pleasant guy too.

Agreed re: weight - he should look to move down to Super Middle.

[margaret thatcher]

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.

he defo seems taller than 5'9 but doesnt really seem as tall as 6'2 either, maybe about 6 feet i would've though

[margaret thatcher]

Ya Hedges looked sh!t, very weak and novice like, wouldnt have expected him to be 40-4 in the ams but as mentioned being a bit of a physical freak can take you places especially at junior and younger

[DrDuke]

Buatsi-Calic was good, highly competetive. I had Calic ahead before the 7th.

Babic came to KO his opponent, he was swinging wild, the opponent was just bad enough to be overwhelmed like that.

[THEBUTCH]

Caught up with the Buatsi Calic bout last night and what an entertaining fight it was

Very impressed with Buatsi and I take it back about Calic not being up to much, he was much better than I realised. Calic definitely came to win and by the third round that looked a distinct possibility.

Joshua kept cool, dug in and battled back and by the end of the 6th I had it even.

Calic completely ballsed-up in the 7th by turning southpaw and Buatsi didn't need a second invitation to crash in the big right hand and hurt Calic, and then promptly looked for the finish. Calic's corner made a good call throwing in the towel when they did

Really good performance from Buatsi and the sort of match that will put him in good stead for the step ups when they come. The sort of bout Yarde was completely lacking before being dropped in too deep.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Ruthless-RKO]

Calic's Jaw is Fine, Suffered Facial Fractures, Barely Sparred For Buatsi

Croatian light heavyweight contender Marko Calic, now 11-1, suffered his first career defeat - as all experts had predicted - at the hands of Olympic bronze medal winner Joshua Buatsi (13-0) on Sunday evening (October 4).

Calic, who is promoted by Swedish Fight Life Promotions, was retired by his team as they suspected a broken jaw after Calic had stated in the corner, between rounds six and seven, that something was wrong.

As it was the jaw wasn't broken - but there were other fractures in the face that had to be treated in the hospital afterwards.

Calic did very well early in the fight and how well he would have done with proper preparations is an open question.

According to Fight Life promoter Kamran Kabinejad, Calic only had six to eight rounds of quality sparring in the weeks leading up to the fight.

[Old bones Ian]

Just watched the fight and Buatsi seemed a bit small in there, but I don't think a move to super middle is the answer , he'd be weaker and against faster boxers.

As for the fight it was a learning one and now we know Buatsi doesn't panic when troubled. He showed a good chin, took his lumps and came through to win.

As for the stoppage, Calic's corner probably did the right thing, but looking at that eye of Buatsi, Calic could of won on an injury stoppage by the end of the round

[steve689]

I like Buatsi but the unexplained inactivity or increase in levels is strange.

Also, size is a red flag. He performed well against Calic, who couldn't punch very hard, but imagine a beast like Beterbiev was laying hands on him like that?

[JxhDel.]

A good test for Buatsi, always exciting to watch. Time to really step it now. Calic was not bad, though.