"Everything narrows. I can't see anything else." Joshua Buatsi explains how he switches his mindset into the cold fury that propels him through contests; Buatsi takes on world level light-heavyweight contender Pawel Stepien on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm
Saturday 6 May 2023 07:34, UK
Now there is only one thing that Joshua Buatsi can do. He has trained diligently. That's all done. He's sparred ferociously hard in camp and the weight has been made. All that’s left now is to prepare his mind to fight.
A change comes over Buatsi as he goes into a contest. The Londoner is a kind, personable figure on the boxing circuit but, when the bell chimes and it's time to fight, he turns. He turns vicious.
The cold fury in his boxing marked him out when he secured an Olympic medal with the kind of impact reserved only for stars. It continued to propel him through the professional ranks and his sequence of impressive knockout victories.
He will turn all that ferocity on Pawel Stepien, the world level contender Buatsi fights on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports.
Once they locked eyes in their face off, there could be no doubt that Poland's Stepien is determined to punch a first defeat into Buatsi's record. The Croydon man can't let that happen.
"I won the staredown, I believe. He knows it," Buasti told Sky Sports. "Can you take too much from it? You can take something from it. You can't over-read it or over-analyse it.
"What matters is on fight night. Who's showing up. Who's executing their gameplan, who's doing what they have to do.
"He's up for it. He knows that winning this will put him in a very good position. So he will come try. But I'll be ready."
It's his mentality, that destructive mindset which he takes into the ring, that he believes makes all the difference.
"Everything narrows. I can't see anything. I've got my blinkers on," Buatsi explained. "I struggle to see past this original vision that I've got once it's that time.
"Boxing is physical but you and I are both aware that there's a massive mental part to it."
His secret weapon is something unexpected. He reads, particular passages from the Bible take his mind where it needs to go.
"What's going to be the added touch is the faith," he said. "The things I'm going to read, the scriptures that I'm going to depend on. That's why maybe you guys place emphasis on this 'change' that you see.
"Because right now, I'm just sitting down, we're chatting. Once I'm in that zone and I'm locked in and I'm reading the scriptures, it's dwelling within my mind and my heart.
"Whatever you guys see that's probably the result of it."
I'll go ahead of you, clearing and paving the road. I'll break down bronze city gates, smash padlocks, kick down barred entrances.
That's one of the passages he's been reading for this fight.
He often turns to Psalm 144: The Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
"People do different things and there's the physical aspect. But we know this is a game of mental toughness as well," he explained. "So whatever people have to do toughen themselves, they've got to do. For me this is what it is.
"For me it's a massive, massive catalyst. It's a game changer for me, definitely."
The 'switch,' his fighting ferocity fades just as quickly as it comes on.
"The moment that bell rings that the fight is over, and my hand is lifted up, we're back to normal," he said.
"I don't need to carry that aggression, that cold heart. It's over."
It serves its purpose. Buatsi relies on it only to carry him through the fight itself.
He must beat Pawel Stepien. Whether it's clear, clean or close, he needs the result. However brutally it comes, for Buatsi on Saturday, victory is all.
Watch Joshua Buatsi versus Pawel Stepien live on Sky Sports Action or Sky Showcase from 7pm.
