Joshua Buatsi voices his frustration as Dan Azeez keeps him waiting at their weigh-in; World champion Chris Billam-Smith and other experts analyse the special dynamic of this fight with friends and former sparring partners turning on each other; Watch Buatsi vs Azeez live on Sky Sports
Friday 2 February 2024 23:00, UK
Both Joshua Buatsi and Dan Azeez made weight for Saturday's light-heavyweight world title eliminator, live on Sky Sports.
Buatsi was just a pound under the limit at 12st 6lbs, while Azeez was unexpectedly two pounds lighter than him.
Buatsi also voiced his irritation at being kept waiting by his opponent. But Azeez scoffed at the complaint.
"It is what it is. I'm not in the plush Hilton like him, I'm down in Catford so traffic," Azeez said.
His prediction was simple and ominous. "War. Destruction. Destroy," he declared. "Victory Dan Azeez."
Buatsi did not break from their staredown and will not back in the fight. His simple forecast: "I win at all costs".
There was no sign of their former friendship as the two men took to the scales and then departed the stage.
This is a world-level contest. With Buatsi and Azeez the two most highly ranked light-heavyweights with most of the world title sanctioning bodies it will decide the division's leading contender.
But a shared past as sparring partners, as two fighters from the same patch of south east London with close ties, adds a further edge to the fight.
It is an intriguing psychological dynamic that both men will need to navigate when the time comes on Saturday night to let their hands go.
Chris Billam-Smith, the WBO cruiserweight world champion who's sparred both men, doesn't believe for a moment that a past friendship will hold back either Buatsi or Azeez when the fight begins.
"It doesn't. I don't hate any of my opponents," Billam-Smith told Sky Sports. "It's just the business. It's the job we're in.
"You don't want to be horrible to someone but that's literally our job, to be horrible to people physically. For those 12 rounds that's what we do.
"It's not as hard as people make out," he added of that shift in mindset. "When you're in the ring and there's someone trying to knock you out, it's very easy to see them as an enemy and do the job you need to do.
"They'll be fine on Saturday and I think it will bring the best out of both of them."
It's an attitude that a boxer must have, Billam-Smith explained: "They've sparred each other. They're not going to spar each other and be tapping each other. It's a brutal business and it's a selfish business.
"You have to be selfish to get to the level that they're at in and out of the ring. You have to be selfish, people have to make sacrifices or compromises outside of the ring."
Billam-Smith won his world title against Lawrence Okolie, a former gym-mate and long-time sparring partner of his. He sees the same dynamic at work in Buatsi-Azeez.
"Dan's career is very similar to mine. This fight reminds me a lot of me and Lawrence," the WBO champion explained. "Him being the underdog… All the notions make me think it will be Dan's night, because it was my night.
"If Dan has had a good camp, I think he'll gain more out of knowing what Josh is like than Josh will out of knowing what Dan is like.
"If the other person's not had [the better of sparring] but they're taking the fight and they know what they've got to improve and they feel like they have done those improvements, which is how I felt, it's like you've got a trick up your sleeve.
"You've got a surprise, whereas the other person, the favourite might not feel like that. We'll see."
Ramtin Musah, one of the light-heavyweights on the GB squad, is well used to training with, sparring with and competing with team-mates.
"I've just got to be a little bit more aware, sneaky little tricks that I normally get away with. With them I won't be able to get away with it," Musah told Sky Sports.
"Then I know if he lands this shot, then this is the next thing coming because it's repetitive, it's drilled into their boxing style. Little things like that."
He reckons that Buatsi's familiarity with Azeez will lend a unique intensity to their fight. "When it's smaller gloves, emotions are involved the friendship kind of goes out the window. The hunger sets in," he said.
"Once you get in there, certain things go through your mind and you're just someone else. For me I just see someone trying to stop me from achieving my goal. That's all I see them as.
"They're an obstacle that I need to go through."
Former fighter and trainer Gary Logan knows that neither Buatsi nor Azeez will hesitate to go for a finish.
"I've experienced fighting friends and sparring friends. No. Not on a big night. No way," he told Sky Sports.
"Controlled violence" is what Logan expects.
"There's a lot of ego. There's a lot of controlled ego. When you spar with someone that you know and someone that's familiar with you. If they catch you with a good shot, you make it your business to try and reply and answer that good shot with your good shot," he said.
"Sometimes you get caught and you go reckless and that's when you get caught. Neither of these guys can be reckless. Neither of them can be complacent. They both know they can buzz or hit each other with notable shots.
"It's about applying it with a level of controlled violence and we're going to see who comes out on top."
Billam-Smith concluded: "It's a very fan-friendly fight.
"I think it will catch fire. Someone will land a shot - and start turning up the heat."
Sky Sports Arena will broadcast Buatsi vs Azeez from 7pm on Saturday night and Sky Sports Main Event televises from 8.30pm.
