2016 Olympian Joshua Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs) showed his pedigree, outboxing previously unbeaten Dan Azeez (20-1, 13 KOs), winning a twelve-round unanimous decision in a WBA light heavyweight title eliminator on Saturday night at the OVO Arena in London, England. Buatsi took advantage of Azeez losing his footing in the 11th round to drop him twice.

#1 WBA Buatsi fought well, boxing Azeez behind a powerful jab and hard right hand to control the fight. Like in many of his fights, the 34-year-old Azeez was too economical with his punches, and he was letting Buatsi get the better of him by being busier.

The scores were 116-110, 117-109 and 117-109.

Azeez fought hard in the 11th and 12th rounds, but he’d given away too many of the early part of the fight for him to pull out the victory. He needed a knockout but didn’t have the firepower to deal with Buatsi’s superior skills.

With the victory, Buatsi is now the WBA mandatory to 175-lb champion Dmitry Bivol and will be in a position to challenge for the title once the Russian fighter finishes his undisputed clash against IBF, WBC, and WBO champ Artur Beterbiev on June 1st.

It should be interesting if Buatsi takes the fight against the winner of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight or if he chooses to play it safe and fight other guys.

Some boxing fans believe that Buatsi doesn’t seem eager to fight for a world title against the killers, Bivol and Beterbiev. He’ll get his chance to show if the fans are correct about him once the smoke clears from the Beterbiev-Bivol fight or fights.

Azim Defeats Poulsen

In the chief support fight, undefeated European light welterweight champion Adam Azim (11-0, 8 KOs) dominated his opponent, Enock Poulsen (14-1, 5 KOs), gliding through the first four rounds with ease.

In the fifth round, Poulsen suffered a shoulder problem that made it necessary for the fight to be halted. The referee halted the fight at 2:39 of the fifth, giving Azim credit for a KO win.