Joshua Buatsi Of Team Everlast Stops Marco Periban in USA Debut

Team Everlast’s Joshua Buatsi came to the ring at MSG at 10-0 (8 KOs), on Saturday evening, and the 2016 Olympian stood across from a decent foe, on paper, Marco Antonio Periban.

The Buatsi-Periban light heavyweight scrap was the second tango shown on the DAZN streaming service, after Chris Algieri stopped Tommy Coyle in a 140 pound clash.

The end came at 1:39 of round four, after a knockdown, and then a combination platter that had the ref pulling the plug, getting Buatsi to 11-0.

The right to the temple hurt Periban, and he took a knee. He arose, and then tried to fight back, but one, two, three power rights told the referee to intercede.

The winner spoke to Todd Grisham and Sergio Mora after he had his hand raised; he said he was a bit over eager, but all in all, it was good. He said he felt Periban was slippery, and then he got that timing down and took care of the business. “I’m humbled to have experienced the MSG experience…I’m humbled to be here, man,” stated the victor, who is managed by Anthony Joshua. He said he hoped to fight for the British 175 crown next.

Buatsi is 26, and was born in Ghana and fights out of Croydon, London, England.

The Mexican Periban (age 34) entered at 25-4 with 16 KOs.

In the first, we saw smooth combos from Buatsi, though he showed ample patience, as he searched for openings. Periban sought to slide away from fire, and was he feeling rust after being off for two years? Trainer Mark Gillespie after said that he saw Periban dropping his hands when JB went downstairs, so the fighter should watch for that.

To round two–we saw JB stalk, edge forward on a foe who knew he was not the more refined or powerful pugilist. To the third, we saw JB break down the loser that much more. Periban was backing up, trying to play smart defense, throw a counter hook here, a combo there. But he was staying on the outside, not committing to those combos, because he knew that it would be wiser to not fall into something.

In the fourth, a right sent Periban to the mat. He did rise. Then, he tried to flurry, tried to keep Buatsi off of him. He couldn’t…Head shots landed too clean and the ref hopped in.