Undefeated light heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi views himself as one of the top fighters in his weight class.
Buatsi, 30-years-old, is back in the mix after last month’s decision win over Pawel Stepien. It was Buatsi’s first fight in a year, after going through promotional and managerial issues – which saw him jump ship from Matchroom to Boxxer.
Currently, Buatsi is the number one contender in the WBA’s light heavyweight rankings.
The world champion is Dmitry Bivol, who is slated to fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a rematch this coming September. That fight is not finalized and there is guarantee that Bivol’s WBA title will be at stake. Bivol is eager to drop down to 168 to challenge Canelo for his undisputed super middleweight crown.
On the other end of the championship bubble is Artur Beterbiev, who holds the WBC, IBF, WBO world titles. Beterbiev is all set to make a mandatory defense against Callum Smith in the month of August.
Buatsi is going sit back and analyze how the upcoming events unfold.
“Is Bivol going to vacate the belt and move down to fight Canelo? Is Beterbiev going to say one more [fight] and I’m retiring? It’s so hard to say. It’s so unpredictable,” Buatsi told Sky Sports.
“It’s important to maneuver myself correctly so that when opportunity comes, I’m next in line. That’s the position that I’m in right now.”
As previously stated by Buatsi, if a shot at Bivol or Beterbiev was placed on the table – he would accept the opportunity.
“I haven’t turned down an opponent to say, ‘Oh I don’t want to fight this guy’. My coach [Virgil Hunter] said you could fight for the title or fight Bivol in a couple of fights. But he didn’t say that means we wouldn’t say yes to it,” Buatsi said.
“Saying that in a couple of fights’ time would leave me more prepared doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t have been prepared had the opportunity been given. They’re killers [Bivol and Beterbiev], but I believe I’m one too. It’s that simple.”