Frank Buglioni discusses rivals Yarde and Burton, his next fight in March, and the thriving 175lbs scene
With the Callum Johnson mandatory defence rescheduled as chief support for the Whyte-Browne fight at the 02 Arena on March 24th, Enfield fan-favourite Frank Buglioni tells Joseph Siza his thoughts on the 175lbs domestic scene and his future plans.
How does it feel to be fighting back at the O2 arena and get the chance to win the Lonsdale belt outright?
"Yeah, brilliant. If the truth be told I’m glad to be fighting on the London O2 show rather than Cardiff again. It’s a lot more accessible for my supporters – they don’t have to fork out for hotels.
Obviously, the AJ cards are great spectacles and great events, but my fans want to see me; it’s just great to be back at the O2 fighting again."
How do you reflect on your performance against Crag Richards last October – was it the best possible version of yourself?
"Yes and no – I believe it was the best possible version of myself at the time, but I think there is going to be a huge difference in my future fights now. I’ve addressed quite a lot of issues I had, including an ongoing injury I’ve had for a good few years, but I’ve finally come through that now and worked my way around it.
I believe there are going to be a lot of knockouts from me this year."
Frank Buglioni retains title on Joshua vs Takam undercard
Are Callum Johnson, Hosea Burton and Anthony Yarde your ideal opponents for 2018?
"I’d love to fight all three of them, definitely. Callum Johnson is undefeated so beating him would land me the British title outright against all undefeated fighters, which has never been done in history before.
So that’s my aim, that’s my mandatory challenger, so we’ll get that done.
Once that is out the way, I’d love to fight both Burton and Yarde, so let’s get it on!"
Providing all goes well against Johnson, how do you think the rematch with Burton would play out and how would you fare against Yarde?
"I think I stop the pair of them inside six.
I know Burton’s weaknesses – his mindset isn’t great and that’s something I said in the lead up to the last fight. He had a little bit of success in the fight against me, well, a fair bit actually, but as soon as it started going wrong, he fell apart, and that is what you will see more of if it we have a rematch.
Yarde is a little bit of an unknown quantity – he hasn’t got that experience so I intend to dissect him and show those weaknesses."
In your early career, whilst you were with Frank Warren, you were led on a similar path as to what Yarde is doing now with the WBO European title route. How do you assess that route looking back at it for you now?
"I won the WBO European title really early on in my career so it wasn’t something that was too hard to achieve. You pick the right opponents, get rid of them and you’ve got yourself a top five WBO ranking. That is not to say you are ready for that ranking and it’s also not to say that you are ready for the guys ranked sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, let alone the top three.
So, if Yarde wants to go and fight Sergey Kovalev for the WBO world title then send him in!"
With the grounding Yarde has got in the professional ranks, how do you see him faring against fighters on the domestic scene?
"I think he certainly wouldn’t get close to me, he’d also struggle against Johnson and I think Burton knocks him out as well.
I personally wouldn’t put Yarde at number three or even number four in the British rankings. I think Craig Richards and Ricky Summers would have given him a good fight too – Summers I know for a fact said he was willing to fight Yarde providing he got six weeks’ notice but they never got back to him.
It’s exciting though and definitely interesting times for the domestic scene."
This is your fifth outing with trainer Don Charles – how pivotal was that career change of trainers for you?
"Don definitely suits my personality and style and I can really talk to him and come up with game plans that work. He’s very flexible and does a lot of work behind the scenes as well. For example, he looks at opponents for me and when an opponent is possibly mentioned, he’s looking out for sparring partners that mimic that. He’s also always looking for weaknesses to exploit – he does his homework.
Don Charles is a great man, and a great man to have in your corner."
Whilst you have highlighted your goals of cleaning up the domestic scene for 2018, how far off do you think you are from competing at world level at 175lbs?
"I want to test out what I’ve been working on in my next few fights, and then we’ll know how close I am to world level.
In my heart of hearts, I don’t think it’s very far off and I believe everyone will witness that in my next couple of fights."
A fight that could potentially take place on the world stage is Adonis Stevenson v Badou Jack – how do you see that fight going?
"The power and awkwardness of Stevenson is hard to combat, but Jack does everything well, has a solid defence and a good chin, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he nicked it!
With that being said, Stevenson can punch and one punch off him it could be all over so I’m sitting on the fence for that one!"