BoxRec

Press Release

Joshua Buatsi will face former World Title challenger Maxim Vlasov on the undercard of Joseph Parker’s huge rematch with Derek Chisora at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday, December 18, live worldwide on DAZN (with the exception of New Zealand and Samoa).

Buatsi (15-0, 13 KOs) scored his tenth knockout in a row when he stopped Latvia’s Ricards Bolotniks in the eleventh round of their WBA Light-Heavyweight World Title Eliminator on the third and final week of Matchroom Fight Camp in August.

That win followed on from his brutal fourth-round stoppage of undefeated Frenchman Daniel Blenda Dos Santos in May and the 28-year-old contender returns to the famous arena next month to take on his toughest challenge yet in the professional ranks.

Russia’s Vlasov (45-4, 26 KOs) dropped a controversial twelve-round majority decision to the USA’s Joe Smith in a challenge for the vacant WBO Light-Heavyweight World Title earlier this year and the former Interim Cruiserweight World Title challenger is determined to bounce back by becoming the first man to defeat Buatsi.

Also on the card, undefeated New Malden Super-Middleweight talent Lerrone Richards (15-0, 3 KOs) looks to build on his impressive EBU European Title win against Giovanni De Carolis in May when he takes on unbeaten IBO 168lbs World Champion Carlos Gongora (20-0, 15 KOs).

Gongora created history by becoming Ecuador’s first ever World Champion when he scored a spectacular twelfth-round knockout win over Kazakhstan’s Ali Akhmedov last December before stopping Christopher Pearson in his maiden defence of the title on the Andrade vs. Williams undercard.

‘Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver’ Jack Cullen (20-2-1, 9 KOs) returns to the scene of his Fight of the Year contender with Felix Cash back in 2019 as he clashes with Germany’s Emre Cukur (17-1, 3 KOs) for the vacant EBU European Super-Middleweight crown following his win over Avni Yildirim in July.

Manchester Super-Featherweight contender Zelfa Barrett (26-1, 16 KOs) hopes to make it three wins from three fights in 2021 as he meets Australia’s Bruno ‘The Terminator’ Tarimo (26-2-2, 5 KOs) in a Final Eliminator for the IBF World Title.

Derby Super-Lightweight prospect Sandy Ryan (2-0, 1 KO) is out to impress again after her vicious body shot knockout win over Aleksandra Vujovic last month in Italy, unbeaten Cruiserweight Jordan ‘Troublesome’ Thompson (11-0, 9 KOs) looks for another big KO in his home city, New Zealand Cruiserweight David Nyika (1-0, 1 KO) fights in the UK for the first time and Anthony Crolla-trained Lightweight Rhiannon Dixon (3-0) returns to action.

Tickets are priced £40, £60, £80, £100, £150, £200, and £400 (VIP).

Matchroom Fight Pass members will be able to purchase tickets from 10am on Thursday November 4. Priority ticket info will be emailed directly to eligible members.

General Sale tickets can be purchased via StubHub (www.stubhub.co.uk) from 10am on Friday November 5.

Deserves it own thread.

Big fight.

Very good card here

Finally, a step up for Buatsi. Let's see what he can do

Good fight

Very good competitive fight that. Vlasov is 4th in TBRB ranking. Looks like a good card.

Very weird choice. Respect from hardcores but not casuals I imagine. Vlas should be world champ, he beat up smith no doubt, normally your protected prospects you aim for soft world titles, not tough guys without belts. Fair play.

booty boi gonna do it

Very good fight on paper. Just skimmed through Vlasov's record.

Never been stopped.

Fought 12 times up at cruiserweight, only losing to Glowacki.

Seems a quite a hard puncher.

Might have to get back on the DAZN bandwagon for a bit

Great fight. Massive chance for Buatsi.

Genuinely thought this was a world title fight for Buatsi for a couple minutes until I remembered Vlasov got shafted against Smith Jr

Like this a lot, real step up for Buatsi here.

Fights off, Buatsi injured his hand.

Not surprised, another big fight falls apart for DAZN/Hearn. They probably won't reschedule, perhaps had no intention of doing it.

Maybe Buatsi got cold feet. He's never fought a live opponent, only tomato cans.

Buatsi chickens out. Hearn is having a mare with dazn.

peter barlow wrote: ↑16 Nov 2021, 12:01 Not surprised, another big fight falls apart for DAZN/Hearn. They probably won't reschedule, perhaps had no intention of doing it.

Maybe Buatsi got cold feet. He's never fought a live opponent, only tomato cans.

Hopefully it gets rescheduled. I mean, if Buatsi is hoping for a top ranked opponent then Vlasov is surely one of the most beatable despite being a big step up.

joshj909 wrote: ↑16 Nov 2021, 12:19

peter barlow wrote: ↑16 Nov 2021, 12:01 Not surprised, another big fight falls apart for DAZN/Hearn. They probably won't reschedule, perhaps had no intention of doing it.

Maybe Buatsi got cold feet. He's never fought a live opponent, only tomato cans.

Hopefully it gets rescheduled. I mean, if Buatsi is hoping for a top ranked opponent then Vlasov is surely one of the most beatable despite being a big step up.

Ed prob wants Buatsi to best Bivol and then a Canelo cashout loss.

Another game changed moment, I'm ff'd right off with the DAZN now. Will cancel at the end of this month , no point especially when SKY have boxing on their channel the same night as the Benn fight

How convenient. Hand injury?

Why not put some other dude in with Vlaso

Does he still have Callum Johnson?

Lee McGregor is now on the card.

Joshua Buatsi pulled from December 18th Maxim Vlasov fight with hand injury

Matchroom Boxing’s Twitter account hit us with the ol’ good news/bad news two-piece this morning. Shortly after announcing that Lee McGregor would defend his European title against Narek Abgaryan on their December 18th Parker-Chisora 2 show, they revealed that Joshua Buatsi suffered a hand injury in training, scrapping a planned clash with Maxim Vlasov.

Buatsi (15-0, 13 KO) vs. Vlasov (45-4, 26 KO) was easily the most compelling matchup on the card, pitting a hugely promising prospect against an extremely experienced veteran who really should have the WBO light heavyweight title around his waist. Eddie Hearn was looking to set up an early 2022 title shot for Buatsi, so depending on the severity of this injury, that plan could need some retooling.

The card still features Carlos Gongora vs. Lerrone Richards in a clash of unbeaten super middleweights, an IBF eliminator between Zelfa Barrett and Bruno Tarimo, and Jack Cullen vs. Emre Cukur for the European super middleweight title.

This fight was a too good to be true.

A quality fight replaced by a mediocre one? Seems to be DAZN’s and Eddie’s MO. Announce a quality undercard and slowly pull fights from it in the build up. He’s a glorified mick Hennessy at the mo.

forcefraser wrote: ↑16 Nov 2021, 12:52 How convenient. Hand injury?

Why not put some other dude in with Vlaso

Does he still have Callum Johnson?

Nope.

Only guy that would make sense is Craig Richards. Or Ryder if he moves up.

That's a shame.

Other than the main event (which could turn out to be decent given Parker and Chisora are in last chance saloon), I think it's quite a fair card on paper.

But it's absolutely stacked with random fights and fighters that most people haven't got a bloody clue who they are.

How did Matchroom get into this state?