Buatsi beat Stepin on points

In the battle of unbeaten light heavyweights, the bronze medalist of the 2016 Olympic Games Joshua Buatsy (17-0, 13 KOs) won by unanimous decision over Pavel Stepin (18-1-1, 12 KOs) in the main event of the evening at the World Resort Arena in Birmingham, England. Buatsi looked preferable throughout the entire fight, which never turned into something more or less competitive. Judging scores: 98-92, 97-94 and 100-90.

“I was out of the ring for almost a year so I had to go through those 10 rounds. I wanted to knock him out and I'm disappointed that I didn't, but we won. If I had lost, things would have been different, so I needed to be smarter,” Buatsi said in an interview with Sky Sports immediately after the fight.