Despite being an interim world champion, people have been pronouncing Joshua Buatsi’s name wrong for a long time.
The fighter from London is set to take on Callum Smith in an all-English affair on February 22nd, as the pair meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The opening fight for ‘The Last Crescendo’ will see Smith compete for the WBO Interim World Light Heavyweight Championship, which is currently held by Buatsi.
Buatsi won his title in his last outing, as he defeated Willy Hutchinson via split decision.
As he aims to defend the interim belt, he has revealed that many people have been getting his name wrong for years.
Joshua Buatsi reveals the correct way to pronounce his name
Although Buatsi has been making some noise in the light heavyweight division for some time now, he has had to put up with many people mispronouncing his name.
In an interview with Not Just Boxing, Buatsi discussed his feelings towards the mispronunciation of his name.
“The MCs do a great job, but none of them have gone the extra step to say, ‘Is this how you pronounce your name?'”.
The interviewer then confirmed the pronunciation of ‘Buatsi’ as ‘bwah-che’.
Although Buatsi lives in London, his place of birth is Accra, Ghana. His Ghanian background is a big part of who Buatsi is, with him even discussing a potential fight in his country of birth.
Joshua Buatsi believes that Callum Smith will be the toughest fight of his career
As Buatsi prepares to defend his WBO Interim World Light Heavyweight belt, he has said that he will be doing it against the toughest opponent of his career.
Smith will go into the bout with a 30-2 record, and is a former world champion himself. Smith has only lost to Artur Beterbiev and Canelo Alvarez, showing that he truly belongs among the division’s best.
When speaking to Not Just Boxing, Buatsi was asked, “Is it fair to say that Callum’s the toughest fight of your career so far?”.
Buatsi responded by saying, “Yeah. I think on paper, if you look at his achievements and what he’s done, then you have to give him that.”
Smith’s last outing would see him return to the win column following his TKO loss to Beterbiev, as he got a stoppage victory over Carlos Galvan (20-14-2) in November 2024.