Willy Hutchinson got revenge over Joshua Buatsi with a unanimous points win to lift the vacant WBC world light heavyweight title on Saturday.
Hutchinson was sharper and busier, especially in the first half of the fight, and Buatsi took too long to get into the fight at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Hutchinson (21-2, 14 KOs), 28, from Carstairs in Scotland, won his first world title and the vacant belt David Benavidez gave up to concentrate on cruiserweight, where he is a unified champion.
Hutchinson won by scores of 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113 to become Scotland's first men's world boxing champion since Josh Taylor's reign at junior welterweight ended three years ago.
After the fight England's Anthony Yarde, who lost to Benavidez for the WBC belt a year ago, congratulated Hutchinson in the ring and is now a possible future opponent.
"I was 13 years old when I said I would be WBC champion, I wrote it in a book, and now I am world champion," Hutchinson said in the ring.
"I should have beaten him two years ago, but we got the job done with balls of steel.
"I want him [Yarde] next."
Buatsi (20-2, 13 KOs), 33, from Croydon in London, paid for a slow start and a lack or urgency as he suffered his second professional defeat.
Buatsi dropped Hutchinson twice with body shots on his way to a split points decision win for the interim WBO belt in September 2024, but he could not get near the Scot for the first half of the fight.
Buatsi is an accomplished boxer but since turning professional after winning a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics, his career has shuffled along painfully slowly. This was his first fight in a year and his first world title shot. This setback raises questions over whether Buatsi can fulfil his potential after high expectations when he turned professional following his Olympic medal 10 years ago.
Buatsi and Hutchinson were only ranked in the top 10 by one of the four world governing bodies after both had suffered setbacks in the last two years. So Benavidez relinquishing the belt presented the winner of this fight with a much needed career boost.
Buatsi certainly needed to gain some momentum. Callum Smith unanimously out-pointed Buatsi in February 2025, and Buatsi then failed to shine as he escaped with a majority points win over Zach Parker in his last bout a year ago.
Hutchinson came in with better form -- he impressed in a points win over Ezra Taylor earlier this year -- and he looked sharp early on against Buatsi.
Buatsi, who had California-based trainer Virgil Hunter in his corner, looked flat in his last outing vs. Parker and he was outworked again for most of the opening rounds vs. Hutchinson.
The Scot further established his jab through Round 2 and then frustrated Buatsi through Round 3 with his elusive footwork and single shots.
Buatsi's steady pace allowed Hutchinson to read his attacks. Hutchinson was a lot more confident than their first encounter and avoided any close-range exchanges where Buatsi could unload body shots.
Buatsi showed some improvement in the middle rounds, but he was still outboxed by Hutchinson. Buatsi landed a good body shot in Round 8 and he was busier in the later rounds, to claw himself back into the fight.
Buatsi waited until Round 11 to show his greatest intensity -- why did he not start like that? -- and Hutchinson spent most of the last round backpedalling, even celebrating before the final bell.
On the undercard, English welterweight Jack Rafferty (28-0-1, 18 KOs) almost sent Belgium's Hovhannes Martirosyan through the ropes on his way to a hard-earned unanimous points win. In an entertaining fight, Rafferty had to show plenty of grit to prevail and forced a contentious knockdown in the final round before earning scores of 114-113, 116-111 and 116-111 for the fringe IBO belt.