Joshua Buatsi vs. Pawel Stepien | Sky Sports - 6 May 2023

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Press Release

A new queen will be crowned as a 114-year wait finally comes to an end on Saturday, May 6th when Lauren Price MBE and Kirstie Bavington become the first female professional boxers in history to compete for the inaugural British women’s championship and a coveted Lonsdale belt.

Introduced in 1909 and named in honour of Lord Lonsdale, the great patron of British boxing, the British championship belt was created as a prize to be awarded to the domestic champions across the various weight classes.

When the British Board of Boxing Control was formed in 1929 it took over governance of the British championship and Lonsdale belt, which remained available only to male boxers - until now.

Equality for women’s sport will rightfully shine through in what is a huge, landmark moment in just three weeks time when Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gold Medallist Lauren Price MBE (3-0, 1 KO) meets former EBU European Welterweight champion Kirstie Bavington (7-3-2, 2 KOs), live and exclusively on Sky Sports in the UK & Republic of Ireland.

The newest addition to the Lonsdale Belt pantheon will keep the same traditional format - including the iconic portrait of Lord Lonsdale - but will have a different ribbon color.

Price will be keen to get her hands on it first. The Welsh wonder was the first sportswoman to receive her MBE honor from King Charles III following his accession to the throne last November.

Since turning professional in 2022, the former Wales international footballer has been victorious in three contests, including February’s impressive victory in Paris, France, over Naomi Mannes – who Bavington defeated for the European title in November 2022.

BOXXER Founder and CEO, Ben Shalom, said: “We are incredibly proud to be history makers once again for women’s boxing with Lauren Price fighting for the first-ever British women’s title against Kirstie Bavington. We are hugely grateful to the British Boxing Board of Control for their phenomenal support and help in the progression for women’s boxing.”

Lauren Price MBE said: “It’s a complete honour. It’s another thing to add to my list to go and make history. I can’t believe it really. It’s a very proud moment for me. I was looking forward to boxing on May 6 anyway. But this is the icing on the cake. To fight in my fourth professional fight for such a prestigious title is the direction I want to go in. It’s absolute honour.”

Robert Smith, General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control said: “We are very pleased to approve the first female British Championship, contested by two very good challengers, an Olympic Gold medalist and a former European champion. Women's boxing has come on tremendously and now we have a British Championship. The winner will indeed be a worthy champion of this historic bout.”

Helen Falkus, Director of Multi Sports at Sky Sports, added: “We’re proud that we are able to say that we will be part of history being made on this momentous night of boxing. The fact that a women’s title fight has been sanctioned for the first time shows the immense growth that women’s boxing is continuing to experience. After historic nights like Shields v Marshall, we look forward to showcasing more of the best fighters in the world.”

BOXXER: Birmingham at the Resorts World Arena, Birmingham is headlined by the newly-signed Joshua Buatsi, himself a former British champion, who kicks off his world title campaign in a clash with undefeated Polish powerhouse Pawel Stepien.

Team GB hero and light-heavyweight sensation Ben Whittaker returns to action on home soil in his beloved Midlands for his third professional bout when he takes on Jordan Grant. Plus, English middleweight champion Tyler Denny faces Manchester’s Macaulay McGowan and Kaisee Benjamin collides with Sean McComb.

[margaret thatcher]

and they just look so thrilled about the opportunity

[Spud]

Is Buatsi another hype or does he deserve some peoples world class tag?

[forcefraser]

Don't sleep on Stepien.

Two fights ago he managed to squeak past Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna in an 8 rounder.

The guy is nails, the guy is fire

[handsofstone]

Hearn will be livid he can't rinse Shalom and Buatsi for using Stepien seeing as he had him down as a bill topper himself


Poor opponent for Smith and equally as bad for Buatsi, Stepien's CV is grim

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Fight Week!!

[CaptainSpacerod]

Buatsi’s career is going nowhere.

His team mustn’t have any faith in him. There are so many good fights that could be made for him and yet none get made

[Kilburn]

At least this card will be on Sky Showcase 106.

[Ruthless-RKO]

At least this card will be on Sky Showcase 106.

That’s good at least.

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Joshua Buatsi Focused on Stepien, Open To Facing Yarde Sooner Than Later

"I know he hasn't lost before, 18-0-1 with a good knockout percentage so a Polish fighter that's going to be hungry, that's going to fight, that's going to have the mentality of if I beat this guy who's highly ranked it puts him up there," Buatsi told Sky Sports. "That makes him a dangerous fighter."

"These are fights that are available and possible," Buatsi said. "It would be good to really mix it with these other light-heavies from England.

"Of course, we're concentrating on world title honors but fortunately there's good fighters in England in my division and it would be nice for us to fight each other."

"He showed bags of heart, bags and bags of heart," Buatsi said. "I'll only concentrate on the heart because I think he showed it in abundance. Because there were times when he was badly hurt but the guy wants to carry on and fair play to him. He fought back, he fought back, he tried.

"At the end of the day he has fought for a world title twice and I haven't. I know he was stopped in both of them but he gave a good account of himself. I'll always give you the respect you deserve. Maybe now is the time to get it, maybe in a month's time, two months whatever it is. I'm sure he has his views about it as well."

[cormack]

At least this card will be on Sky Showcase 106.

never heard of it

[Kilburn]

Pawel has gone the distance a few times recently but at least the opposition looks like the “don’t tend to get stopped” kind.

So he’ll be ready to do a few rounds, and may actually carry a bit of a dig still.

I might just stick with that ahead of Saturday rather than actually looking him up on YouTube…

[maverick23]

It’s a poor main event but I think the card has some decent and competitive fights on it.

I also think Boxxer deserve credit for getting 5-6,000 people there through pricing it well. £25 starting price makes a nice change.

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[Twinkle Toes]

It’s a poor main event but I think the card has some decent and competitive fights on it.

I also think Boxxer deserve credit for getting 5-6,000 people there through pricing it well. £25 starting price makes a nice change.

Some might call it desperation

[maverick23]

It’s a poor main event but I think the card has some decent and competitive fights on it.

I also think Boxxer deserve credit for getting 5-6,000 people there through pricing it well. £25 starting price makes a nice change.

Some might call it desperation

Post covid we’ve had many shows at arenas a quarter full with high ticket prices. Boxing should be an accessible sport so makes a nice change that the starting price of the tickets is as cheap as it is, particularly with most other things being more expensive than ever before.

[Twinkle Toes]

Yes. You're right - They are doing it for the fans.

[garethhop]

It’s a poor main event but I think the card has some decent and competitive fights on it.

I also think Boxxer deserve credit for getting 5-6,000 people there through pricing it well. £25 starting price makes a nice change.

Also helps the TV production immensely. Boxxer seem to be much better at QB than doing this.

The market for boxing tickets has collapsed compared to recent years. Go and look at the Lara/Wood ticket map. Only 3 weeks out, they are opening less than half the arena, and there are stacks of tickets available, including lower tier ones from £46 and good seats for £70.

[maverick23]

It’s a poor main event but I think the card has some decent and competitive fights on it.

I also think Boxxer deserve credit for getting 5-6,000 people there through pricing it well. £25 starting price makes a nice change.

Also helps the TV production immensely. Boxxer seem to be much better at QB than doing this.

The market for boxing tickets has collapsed compared to recent years. Go and look at the Lara/Wood ticket map. Only 3 weeks out, they are opening less than half the arena, and there are stacks of tickets available, including lower tier ones from £46 and good seats for £70.

Yeah - it definitely helps make it look like a better TV product when the atmosphere is good and the stands are full.

I saw that re: the Wood/Lara rematch. Makes no sense to have gone anywhere other than the Nottingham Arena where Wood has been selling great recently. Putting a 2 hour drive in the way is stupid. Also doesn’t help that there’s a bigger fight at the same arena a couple of weeks after.

[tony1234]

Not much hype for this, buried on a busy sporting day