Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn says light-heavyweight prospect Joshua Buatsi (12-0, 10 KOs) should finally break a run of bad luck that has kept him out of the ring for over a year on a card being prepared for September.
Ghana-born Brit Buatsi last competed on Aug. 31, 2019 when he stopped Canada's Ryan Ford in the seventh round at London's 02 Arena to retain the WBA International light-heavy title.
And while many fighters have been on the sidelines for months thanks to COVID-19, Buatsi's struggles have run a little deeper than the pandemic's freeze on live sporting events.
Hearn sat down with DAZN recently to discuss the imminent plans for several of his competitors, during which he had a lot of praise for the 27-year-old Olympian in particular.
"Joshua Buatsi will fight in September," said Hearn. "It’ll be nearly a year, actually, since he’s been in the ring.
"He was ill in November and of course he was supposed to fight on March 28 before the pandemic hit.
"He’s a guy who I think will fight once this year and then straight into the big stuff. Brilliant fighter, one of the best prospects in world boxing.
"He’s top 15 with every governing body now, so that’s a future world light-heavyweight champion, and he’ll be back in September."
Nothing is on the official Matchroom schedule as of Sept. 1, other than an Oct. 17 card in Newcastle headlined by Lewis Ritson vs. Miguel Vazquez.
But while Hearn hopes to confirm a September fight in the very near future, he has stated multiple times that his unique Fight Camp experiment will not return any time soon.
Matchroom staged four crowdless cards on four consective weekends in August to end their coronavirus-enforced absence. The shows, held on the land outside the firm's sizeable headquarters in Brentwood, Essex, were met with critical acclaim but set Hearn back financially.