In that September 2024 meeting with Buatsi, Hutchinson was dropped twice (rounds 6 and 9). While one judge somehow found a way to give it to him 113-112, the other two saw a much clearer picture at 117-108 and 115-110. He showed heart to finish, but he was physically handled for large portions of that fight.
“Buatsi, I’ll make absolute easy work of him,” Hutchinson said to talkSport Boxing. “I’m telling you. I’ll say it again.”
Hutchinson viewed his most recent performance, beating Taylor, as a statement to the public. While fans are starting to take notice of his rise, Hutchinson claims he has been at this level for years, waiting for the world to catch up.
“These doors was open a long time ago, but some reason everyone’s just seeing it now,” he said.
He added that he never needed to get out of second gear in his latest outing, claiming he controlled the fight throughout and could have done more if required.
“I boxed 10 rounds with my hands down, and the man couldn’t hit me. I was just having fun.”
By calling for Buatsi immediately, Hutchinson is bypassing “safe” options. He doesn’t see a rematch as a gamble. Instead, he views it as a necessary correction to his record.
This aggressive stance puts the ball firmly in Buatsi’s court. With Hutchinson claiming he’s operating on a different plane, the boxing world is watching to see if Buatsi is willing to run it back and settle the score once and for all.
The version of Buatsi we’ve seen over the last year looks far more vulnerable than the one that beat Hutchinson. Buatsi took a sustained beating in his first pro loss in a fight against Callum Smith in February 2025. Smith’s power and precision seemed to take something out of him, and he lacked his usual sharpness.
In Buatsi’s last fight against Zach Parker in November 2025, which he won by a 10-round decision, he looked like he’d lost something from his game.
Many fans and pundits felt Parker did enough to win, and the majority decision for Buatsi was met with heavy boos in Manchester. Buatsi looked sluggish and struggled with Parker’s movement. Three straight 10-12 round wars against Smith, Parker, and Hutchinson is a lot of mileage in 18 months.
Hutchinson’s biggest advantage now is momentum and freshness. Since losing to Buatsi, he’s picked up a TKO win over Mark Jeffers and just cruised past Ezra Taylor without getting out of second gear.
While Buatsi has been embroiled in controversial decisions and physical wars, Hutchinson has been refining his game and staying relatively untouched. If they fight again in late 2026, Hutchinson might be catching a “faded” version of the man who dropped him twice.
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