Joshua Buatsi vs Pawel Stepien Preview May 6th, 2023
Unbeaten light heavyweight prospects Joshua Buatsi of Ghana and Pawel Stepien of Poland will meet in a 12-round showdown in Birmingham, England this Saturday, May 6th. The bout can be seen live in the UK on Sky Sports Action. Buatsi, who fights out of London, England, last fought in May when he beat Craig Richards by a 12-round unanimous decision. Stepien last saw action in August when he beat Iago Kiziria by an eight-round unanimous decision.
Buatsi vs Stepien Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Pawel Stepien +800
- Joshua Buatsi -1500
My Pick
The 30-year-old Buatsi enters the fight with a perfect record of 16-0 with 13 Ko’s and obviously has pretty good power in his punches with a current knockout mark of 81.3 per cent. He’s boxed just 77 rounds as a pro since making his debut in 2017. He had a fine amateur career as he won a gold medal at the 2014 and 2015 English ABA National Championships and a bronze at the 2015 European Amateur Boxing Championships.
He also won the 2015 Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament. He then went on to capture a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since turning pro he’s won the WBA International and BBBoC British Light Heavyweight Titles.
Buatsi measures 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 74.5-inch reach. He hasn’t faced any legitimate world-class contenders as of yet as his biggest wins have been over Craig Richards, Renold Quinlon, Liam Conroy, Marco Antonio Periban, Ryan Ford, Marko Calic and Ricards Bolotniks. He needs to just keep on beating whoever is put in front of him though if he hopes to land a shot at a world title.
As for Stepien, he’s 32 years old and makes the ring walk with a near-perfect mark of 18-0-1 with the lone blemish on his record being a 10-round draw with Marek Matyja in July, 2020. He’s boxed 101 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015 and before that he enjoyed a pretty good amateur career which saw him win the Polish Youth Cup and crowned the Youth Polish champion. He also fought in the World Series Boxing in 2013.
Stepien won the Polish International Light-Heavyweight title in his ninth bout and stopped nine of his first 10 opponents, with six of those stoppages coming in the first two rounds. He beat Marek Matyja via split decision in their 2020 and captured the vacant IBF Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title in 2021 by stopping Deneb Diaz in the fifth round. He first won the vacant Polish Belt in 2018 and is currently ranked number 21 by the WBC, 13th by the IBF, fourth by the WBO and 26th by the IBO.
At 6-feet-2-inches tall and with a 75-inch reach, Stepien is the same height as Buatsi and has an edge of just half an inch in reach. He also has pretty good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 63.2 per cent but has gone the distance in his last three fights and in seven of the last eight. His biggest wins have been against Dmitry Sukhotskiy, Artem Redko and Ezequiel Maderna. This will be his first pro fight outside of Poland.
Prediction…
Buatsi and Stepien are basically the same size with Buatsi being slightly younger and possessing more power. He’s also fighting at home and has arguably fought tougher opposition. This is a good European matchup and should be relatively close but I’m giving the edge to Buatsi due to his jab and power.
Buatsi’s power could be the difference.
Play: Buatsi -1500 @ BetOnline.ag
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Joshua Buatsi betting • Pawel Stepien betting