Two years after Joshua Buatsi put him down twice, Willy Hutchinson took the world title they were both chasing.

Hutchinson won a unanimous decision over Buatsi on Saturday at AO Arena in Manchester with scores of 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113 to claim the vacant WBC light-heavyweight championship.

The bout was first billed as an interim title fight and was upgraded when American David Benavidez vacated the WBC belt to move up to cruiserweight. Hutchinson improved to 21-2. The loss was the second of Buatsi's 22-fight professional career.

A different fighter than 2024

Buatsi dropped Hutchinson twice with body shots when they first met in 2024 and won that fight by split decision. This time Hutchinson used hand speed and movement to stay out of trouble and pile up rounds.

Buatsi pressed more after the midpoint, closing the distance and throwing from head to body. Hutchinson stayed on the back foot in the last round, content to protect his lead and hear his name read out as champion.

He is the eighth British fighter to win a light-heavyweight world title and the first since Nathan Cleverly in 2017.

A promise from age 13

An emotional Hutchinson reminded the crowd of a story he has told all week. "I want to tell the story one more time. I was 13-years-old. My dad was working in Sweden. I signed it in a book, I said I will become a world champion. Let's go!"

He also thanked his coach for getting him through a difficult stretch of his career.

Anthony Yarde watched from ringside and could now pursue a domestic title fight with Hutchinson. The winner of Dmitry Bivol against Callum Smith on Dec. 12 and WBC-ranked Ben Whittaker are other names that could come next. Buatsi's other professional loss came against Smith on points in 2025.