Joshua Buatsi knocked out Daniel Blenda Dos Santos to retain WBA International title

Joshua Buatsi successfully defended his WBA International light-heavyweight title with a fourth round knockout of Daniel Blenda Dos Santos on Saturday night.

The champion, from Croydon, was a huge favourite despite it being a clash of two undefeated fighters.

Dos Santos came into the contest with a 15-0 record but his last six opponents all had losing records.

Buatsi never looked remotely in trouble before detonating a right hand in the corner which keeled over the Frenchman, who also took another punch before he hit the canvas hard.

Medical staff were quickly into the ring to adminster oxygen and tend to Dos Santos.

Buatsi moved his record to 14-0 and is expected to box again in either June or July with promoter Eddie Hearn admitting the South Londoner needs to be more active.

“I hope he’s okay,” said Buatsi. “We’ve seen this happen to many fighters. You box someone they say you’re levels above and it’s a banana skin situation. I’m glad I handled it.

“I remain optimistic all of the time in the moves that I make and this is one of them. We will have a week or so off and then we’re back in the gym to keep building. Going in we had little footage of him. Usually you can watch who you’re going to fight to get a feel. He looked very good in the one bit of footage we had of him. I had to learn round by round what he was like.

“Virgil [Hunter, trainer] gave me the perfect instructions and I followed them. I haven’t got here by being given it. The little that I’ve earnt, I had to work hard for it. I thank god for everything that we’ve got but I work hard for it.

“When I step in that ring it’s a dog mentality. This is a fight. I’m here to take everything. We’re here to win but we’re not here to hurt anyone. The time that we’re in the ring, yes, we want to win, and we want to entertain. We’re not here to hurt anyone in the long-term.”

PICTURES: MARK ROBINSON/DAVE THOMPSON MATCHROOM BOXING