Willy Hutchinson waited two years for redemption, and on Saturday night in Manchester he took it. The Scottish light-heavyweight outboxed Joshua Buatsi over twelve rounds to win a unanimous decision and claim the vacant WBC title, avenging the split-decision loss that had haunted him since September 2024. Across the Atlantic, Alycia Baumgardner delivered something rarer than a win: a shutout. Then, in the Arizona desert, David Benavidez reminded everyone that the most dangerous man in boxing is the one with three belts in his sights.
Hutchinson’s Revenge
The rematch was a reverse image of the first fight. In September 2024 at Wembley, Buatsi knocked Hutchinson down twice and edged a split decision. On Saturday, at the AO Arena in Manchester, Hutchinson weathered the early storm, stayed disciplined behind his jab, and ground out a unanimous decision. The judges scored it 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113.
Hutchinson is 28 now, 21-2 with 14 knockouts, and this is his first world championship. He becomes the first British light-heavyweight champion since Nathan Cleverly in 2017. Buatsi, 33, is a clean-cut pressure fighter with real power, but Hutchinson made him miss and made him pay. That is the hardest thing to do against a man who expects to walk through you.
The title was vacant because David Benavidez gave it up to move to cruiserweight, which is its own kind of story. The belt Hutchinson won is the one Benavidez left behind on his way to something bigger.
Baumgardner’s Shutout
If Hutchinson’s win was a redemption arc, Baumgardner’s was a statement. Moving up from super featherweight, where she was undisputed, the American challenged IBF lightweight champion Elif Nur Turhan at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. She won every round on every card: 100-90, 100-90, 100-90. Turhan, 14-1, suffered the first loss of her career.
Baumgardner landed 103 power punches to Turhan’s 40, connecting at 51 percent while holding the champion to 13 percent. That is not a fight; that is a clinic. At 19-1 with 7 knockouts, Baumgardner is now a two-division champion, and the post-fight talk already turned to undisputed showdowns with Caroline Dubois and Stephanie Han.
I have gone back and forth on where Baumgardner sits in the women’s pound-for-pound conversation, but a shutout of an unbeaten champion settles it for now. She is right there at the top.
Benavidez’s Three-Belt Chase
The most compelling story in the sport right now is not a result. It is a trajectory. David Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) defends his WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles against WBC champion Michal Cieslak (28-2, 22 KOs) on December 5 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Three belts. One ring. A step toward undisputed.
At a media workout last Saturday in Phoenix, Benavidez was declarative. “Me being undisputed is inevitable,” he said. “I’m going to make my way to the top of the pound-for-pound list very soon. I will be number one.” Confidence is common in boxing. Precision is not. Benavidez has both, and the rebuilt jab he says he has sharpened is the weapon that will decide this fight.
Cieslak is no placeholder. The Pole won the WBC belt and will make his first defense, with 22 knockouts in 30 fights. But he is stepping into Benavidez’s hometown against a man who has stopped 26 of 32 opponents. The co-main event is just as juicy: undefeated Vergil Ortiz Jr. (24-0, 22 KOs) against former champion Keith Thurman (31-2, 23 KOs) at middleweight.
And then there is the ghost at the feast. Oleksandr Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight king, wants to drop back down at 39 and fight Benavidez to become undisputed at cruiserweight a second time, as I wrote last week. The IBF belt is vacant. British trainer Dave Coldwell has voiced the obvious worry: whether Usyk can still make the weight and keep his reactions at 39. That is the fight that would settle the pound-for-pound hierarchy.
The News Desk
Two items from the WBC’s 64th convention in Acapulco deserve your attention. First, president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed that Floyd Mayweather would be eligible to challenge Ryan Garcia for the WBC welterweight title, provided he passes medical exams and holds a boxing license. “The rules of the WBC allow him to fight for the title,” Sulaiman said. Garcia, who stopped Conor Benn in two rounds in September, is expected to return on February 6, with Mayweather and WBA champion Teofimo Lopez both in the running.
Sulaiman compared Mayweather’s potential comeback to Manny Pacquiao’s late-career title near-misses. I lean toward the warning: Mayweather has not fought a professional bout in years, and the examples Sulaiman himself cited, Ali, Chavez and Tyson, are cautionary tales.
Second, Junto Nakatani is being lined up against Ramon Cardenas for February on DAZN, with the WBC super bantamweight title potentially on the line if Naoya Inoue vacates to move up in weight. The Japanese division is in motion again, and as I covered in my Inoue roundup, the ripple effects reach all the way to the lower weights.
The Week Ahead
Thursday, November 12, Acapulco (ESPN Deportes): Luis Nery (37-3, 28 KOs) meets Filipino contender Sem Japet Enano (9-2, 4 KOs) at featherweight. Camila Zamorano, 18, defends her WBC women’s atomweight title against Brenda Balderas Martinez.
Friday, November 13: Bryan Flores vs Jose Nunez in El Paso (ProBoxTV), and Justin Figueroa vs Luis Caraballo Ramos in Atlantic City.
Saturday, November 14 is a split-screen day. Carson, California (TNT/DAZN): Diego Pacheco vs Darius Fulghum at super middleweight, Anthony Olascuaga defends his WBO flyweight title against Yuberjen Martinez, plus Charlie Sheehy-Gabriel Flores Jr. and David Adeleye-Alexander Flores. Riyadh (Paramount+): Carlos Adames vs Gerome Warburton and Jason Moloney vs Andres Teran.
Filipino Corner
The Philippines has its king back on the board. Pedro Taduran defended his IBF minimumweight title on Sunday morning (Manila time) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, outlasting previously unbeaten Spanish challenger Brandon Moreno over twelve rounds. The cards read 120-108 and 115-113 twice. Taduran is now 21-4-1, this was his fourth successful defense, and he remains the only Filipino world champion in boxing today. The amateur pipeline keeps feeding the pros, from Paalam’s silver at the Asian Games to the prospects filling regional cards.
More immediately, Sem Japet Enano steps way up in class on Thursday. The 26-year-old from Biñan, Laguna, who fights out of Sanman Boxing in General Santos City, holds the IBO Oceania-Orient featherweight title and is 9-2 with four knockouts. He won that belt by outpointing previously unbeaten Tyrell Adams in Sydney in April, then stopped Tyler Blizzard in seven in Brisbane in July. Luis Nery is a former two-division champion with 28 knockouts. This is the fight that can make Enano more than a regional name.
At home, the local circuit keeps grinding. Jimenez-Diaz VII lands on November 14 at the Fuente Osmeña Circle in Cebu, and UKC XXXVI returns to Elorde Sports Center in Sucat on November 28.
Bottom Line
The weekend crowned two new champions and left a third belt in play. Hutchinson’s revenge was patient, Baumgardner’s was brutal, and Benavidez is chasing something historic in December. For Filipino fans, Taduran’s retention is the anchor, and Enano’s test against Nery is the one to watch. December is loading up fast.