How to watch Joshua Buatsi vs Azeez
Over three months on since the two Brits were set to collide, Joshua Buatsi (17-0) and Dan Azeez (20-0) will finally meet in the ring on Saturday night, February 3, with world title ambitions on the line as they top the bill, featuring a number of the UK’s top prospects.
Two-time national amateur champion and daughter of promoter, Mick, Francesca Hennessey (2-0) will step through the ropes for her third professional contest since debuting in September. The 19-year-old will be tasked with Argentina’s Laura Valdebenito (5-5-1) who challenged for the South American Light-Flyweight Title last year, before losing to Chloe Watson on her lone fight in Britain back in July.
Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva (5-1) will also appear on the card in what could be a must-win clash for the London-based heavyweight, as he seeks to bounce back from a first career defeat after he was surprisingly knocked out by Igor Macedo in September. He faces a tough challenge against Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko (10-14-1) who has a deceptive record and impressed on his two outings in the United Kingdom last year, being the first man to take the highly-rated Moses Itauma the full distance, before upsetting the previously unbeaten Matty Harris in Edinburgh.
Olympic silver medallist, Ben Whittaker (5-0) has established himself both as a serious talent and ‘love him or hate him’ character since his debut in July 2022, with persistent showboating combined with highlight-reel knockout and extreme skills dividing opinions amongst fans. ‘The Surgeon’ will aim to continue his surge in the light-heavyweight division against Khalid Graidia (10-13-5), who has taken the likes of Karol Itauma, Ezra Taylor and Dan Azeez to the scorecards in the past.
Katie Taylor’s decision to vacate the IBF and WBO lightweight titles has blown the women’s 135lb division wide open and there are few better poised than Caroline Dubois (8-0) to take advantage. However, the 23-year-old will instead make a first defence of her IBO title before she can allow her head to turn, facing Miranda Reyes (7-1-1) on Saturday night, who is coming off of an impressive win over Yazmin Rivas in her last contest.
Meanwhile, Adam Azim (10-0) has previously revealed his ambitions to win a world title fast than his idol, Amir Khan [22] and looked back to his best against Franck Petitjean in November, where he won the EBU European super-lightweight title. He too will make a first defence of his belt, against a former holder of the belt in Enock Poulsen (14-0), who also defeated Petitjean back in 2022.
This will be Poulsen’s first fight outside of his native Denmark and whilst his eyes will be on regaining his title, it is fair to say that Azim will be looking further afield, sitting at tenth in the WBA rankings as he attempts to progress towards fights against world level opposition.
Watch Joshua Buatsi vs. Dan Azeez live on Sky
Finally Buatsi (17-0) and Azeez (20-0) will take centre stage around 10:30pm live on Sky Sports, as both men put their undefeated records on the line in an all-London affair for the British Light-Heavyweight title. Buatsi has fought just once since May 2022 in a dominant but dull victory over Pawel Stepien, but is no stranger to the Lonsdale belt which he vacated back in 2019. He seeks to regain it against domestic and world rival Azeez, who will be hoping that his back injury that caused the delay in the event will not be present on fight night.
Although the prestige and allure of the British title is as present as ever, both Buatsi and Azeez find themselves ranked in the top four, which each of the four sanctioning bodies. Therefore, the winner is likely the prime candidate to challenge for the undisputed light-heavyweight title following Beterbiev-Bivol, which is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.