Two years ago, Buatsi (20-2, 13 KOs) dropped Hutchinson twice and beat him by split decision, but he spent the majority of Saturday’s rematch desperately trying to track down the quicksilver Hutchinson.

Buatsi is a hard, brave man and he never gave up hope, but despite a determined late body attack that slowed Hutchinson down, he was always a step or two behind the Scotsman and lost a unanimous decision. 

“Yeah, I’m massively disappointed,” Buatsi told IFL.

“There's no second place in our sport. There's no “well done”. We came for the belt. The belt is not here, so we didn't achieve the goal. We didn't achieve the mission. We didn't achieve what we set out to achieve, so I'm hugely disappointed. My family, my friends that came, hugely disappointed. There's no other feeling to describe honestly.”

Buatsi turned professional after winning a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil. Exceptionally talented with legitimate power and a cool, considered approach to his job, he was immediately touted as a future world champion. 

Buatsi is now 33 years old and has been fighting professionally for 10 years. If he wants to rebuild and win a world title, he will have to start all over again.

He expressed his desire to continue fighting but doesn’t know what his future looks like. 

“We saw Filip Hrgovic capture it [a world title belt] a few months ago. We went to the same Olympic Games, and I thought this was going to be mine too, but it wasn't. It’s a bit like when I lost to [Callum] Smith; I was like, "What happens next?" I don't know,” he said.

“What's important is that I keep my faith. If it had gone well, I’d have been on a high horse. I’d be screaming on top of the mountains, so now that it didn't go well, I’ve got to check myself and say, "Josh, what are you going to do? You going to keep the faith? You going to do this, do that, do that?” That's what's important to me.”