This Saturday, undefeated light-heavyweight boxer Joshua Buatsi faces Ricard Bolotniks in the final instalment of Fight Camp. Of course, we’ll be backing our ambassador Josh all the way. After all, his pro record of 14 wins and zero losses is pretty reassuring, even if his opponent does refer to himself as “The Lion” ...
This week we caught up with Josh to find out how he’s feeling about entering the ring on Saturday, his take on trash talk, and what’s next for his career (spoiler: he wants a belt).
‘Everyone’s got a different strategy, trash talking is just never something I do’
If you’ve seen some of Josh’s press conferences, you’ll know he’s never been one for trash talking, even if his opponents love it. He's all about keeping things professional, getting in the ring and doing what he does best. For him, trash talking isn’t necessary to have a great fight.
‘People operate differently, everyone’s got a different strategy and it’s just not part of mine. Whatever people can do to give them an advantage they should do, but trash talking is just never something I do.’
'Remain in control to win the round, to win the fight’
When you look at a pro like Josh, you might think he’s got a clear five-year plan for his career, with sky-high goals. Whilst yes, his ultimate goal is always in the back of his mind, he takes the journey day-by-day.
'All these pressures people put on you, I don’t really believe in that. I have short-term and immediate goals, I have daily goals, I have hourly goals, that’s how I operate’
What’s the mindset of an undefeated champ going into a fight then?
‘It’s just to win every round and win the fight, that’s the ultimate goal, to win the fight. How it comes obviously it varies. Every round they might show something different. As long as every round I’m in control that’s what you want, to remain in control to win the round, to win the fight, if it’s via points we take that, if it’s via knockout we take that as well’
He confidently says ‘of course long-term I want to be world champion, but to get there I have these immediate goals that I follow, so right now, my goal is to win on Saturday.’
‘Visualise, Visualise, Visualise’
A lot of boxers love a pre-fight ritual. Wearing a lucky charm, a certain robe, or having a fresh haircut. But when we asked Josh about his own rituals, he told us he doesn’t really do anything like that. What keeps him stable before a fight is his faith.
However, he does tell us about a meditative process of visualising the fight in the weeks leading up to it.
‘You visualise, you visualise and you visualise. You visualise it so much that when it starts happening and you start doing the things that you thought about, you’re like, this is what I’ve been training for, this is what I imagined’.
Take Home Message
We’ve seen Josh’s dedication to his sport time and time again, and we have nothing but confidence for his fight on Saturday. His discipline is inspiring and we reckon he's on to something with his process of setting small goals to achieve even bigger ones.
Good luck on Saturday Josh, we can't wait to see what you do next.
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