JOSHUA Buatsi is a British-Ghanaian undefeated light-heavyweight boxer.
Here we look at his life, career and net worth.
The SunJoshua Buatsi is the current WBA international light-heavyweight champion[/caption]
Who is Joshua Buatsi?
Joshua Buatsi was born in Accra, Ghana — before his family moved to Thornton Heath, south London, where he grew up.
He studied at Edenham High School, and then completed a degree at St Mary’s University, Twickenham in business management and sports science, graduating with a 2:1.
Buatsi started boxing at the age of fifteen at the South Norwood and Victory boxing club, located in an old church hall near Croydon.
The knockout artist, who is nicknamed “Just Business”, became an English national champion and won a European bronze medal before representing Great Britain at the Rio Olympics in 2016 — where he also picked up a bronze medal.
Joshua has gone on to have a successful professional career, holding the WBA international light-heavyweight title, and is undefeated so far.
He is often referred to as somewhat of an anomaly in the world of boxing, as unlike a great many of his peers he avoids trash talking and is considered to be good natured.
His former promoter Eddie Hearn described him as “the nicest, most dangerous man you can meet”.
Buatsi told Al Jazeera: “They speak about me outside the ring in terms of ‘he’s a nice guy, he’s polite’.
“It’s just when I get in the ring, it’s no time to be nice, my coach always says to me, ‘nice guys finish last.’”
And Joshua has said that a boxing legend taught him to respect his opponents.
He told SunSport: “As Mike Tyson said, ‘not everyone you fight is your enemy and not everyone that helps you is your friend’.
Life is hard for everyone for all different reasons, just because we are boxers it doesn’t mean we should make it any harder for each other.
“We are not born boxers and we are not boxers until the day we die.
“I have nothing personal with any of these guys and — until we sign a contract and get in that ring for 12 rounds of trying to take each others’ heads off — I like to be cool with everyone.”
Buatsi left Hearn’s Matchroom stable when it left Sky Sports and jumped ship to streaming app DAZN in 2021.
Joshua was furious when Hearn claimed he had ducked a £1million world title shot against Russian champion Dmitry Bivol, leading him to return to Sky Sports and their promoters BOXXER.
Buatsi fumed: “Matchroom promised me a world title shot over and over again; ‘Beat Ricards Bolotniks (August ‘21) and you’ll get it’. Then it was: ‘Beat Craig Richards (May ‘22) and you’ll get it’.
“But there were always excuses about writing to the WBA and then it never happened.
“I wanted to avoid this topic too but Eddie came out and said I turned down the Bivol fight for £1million.
“But we had a conversation in confidence that he went public with but he only publicised half of the sentence.
“He left out all the caveats they wanted included; the contract extensions and extra fights with Matchroom.
“I took those unmentioned extras as two or three more years on DAZN, two more three years of no publicity and nobody seeing my fights.
“I thought I might win a world title on a channel that hardly anybody has access to, let alone watches.
“So when Eddie comes out and just says ‘he turned down a world title offer and £1m’ that is not the truth.
“There was a lot more to that offer but he just doesn’t want to tell the public, he just wants to shape their minds.
“It’s unfortunate because most of the public believes what Eddie says but if you were to track and trace everything Eddie says everyday, you would go mad!
“The story changes so frequently that people need to look a bit deeper.
“If you just pick up and notice the pattern of this guy you cannot believe everything he says.”
What age and height is Joshua Buatsi?
Buatsi was born on March 14, 1993.
At the time of writing, he is 30 years old.
Joshua is six-foot-two (188cm) and has a reach of 74.5 inches (189cm).
What is Joshua Buatsi’s boxing record?
Buatsi’s boxing record stands at 17-0-0.
This means he has won all 17 of his professional bouts, with no losses or draws.
He has won 13 of his fights by knockout, giving him a knockout ratio of 76.5%.
Buatsi is shaping for a busy 2024, with his fight against Dan Azeez — a postponed eliminator for the WBA world title — scheduled for February 3.
And an all British dust-up with Anthony Yarde is also on the cards later in the year.
Buatsi told SunSport: “Stormzy had like a birthday party. We were both invited and we were talking and that’s when we mentioned it as well.
“The only thing about that was I think a couple of days later I see an interview where his energy was a bit different.
“And I was thinking, ‘That’s mad. Because when I was with you a couple of days ago you wasn’t saying any of that. You was talking normal.’
“But again, he’s saying what he’s supposed to say, so hopefully it can happen…”
What is Joshua Buatsi’s net worth?
Reports of Joshua’s net worth vary, but not too dramatically.
At the bottom and of the scale, a number of outlets put it at around $1.5million USD (£1.2million).
Whereas at the top end multiple publications estimate his fortune at roughly $5million (£3.9million).