WILLY HUTCHINSON

Age: 20

Hometown: Carstairs, Scotland

Weight class: Light heavyweight

Height: 6-foot-1 (185 cm)

Amateur record: 65-10

Turned pro: 2017

Pro record: 6-0 (4 knockouts)

Trainer: Dominic Ingle

Manager: Shelly Finkel

Promoter: Queensbury Promotions and Ringstar Sports

Twitter: @willyhutchinso

Best night of pro career and why: Hutchinson has taken everything in his stride since turning professional in October 2017.

“None of them yet,” he said with regards his best outing to date. “I haven’t had a strong performance just yet, I’m still learning and I’m still progressing and that’s what this is all about to get where I need to be. The better men I fight the better boxer I become.”

Worst night of pro career and why: The 20-year-old Scot hasn’t had to get out of second gear so far and as such doesn’t feel he has had a weak performance.

“No, I’m my own biggest critic,” he said. “I always pick things out where I never really done great.”

Next Fight: Hutchinson had been due to make his 2019 bow earlier this year but ended up getting moved around from different shows until he landed on Queensbury’s Saturday’s promotion in Leicester, where he will face perennial loser Daniel Borisov.

Borisov (7-24-2, 0 KOs) has been a regular on British shores since turning professional in 2011. The 35-year-old Bulgarian has only been stopped on eight occasions from his 24 loses, however, notably when he’s stepped up Frank Buglioni (L TKO 1) and Adam Etches (L TKO 3) got rid of him early. Hutchinson has a greater pedigree than those two and will expect to get an inside the distance win.

Why he’s a prospect: Hutchinson is one of Scotland’s most successful amateur boxers. He was prolific on the youth scene, winning gold at the Under-17 European Championships in 2014 and then gold at the World Youth championships in 2016.

He fought 47 international contests for Scotland and won multiple British championships. During his time in the unpaid ranks he fought all over the world in Russia, Spain, Portugal, Serbia, Germany, Switzerland and France.

He initially moved from Scotland to London to work under Ismael Salas’ guide at David Haye’s gym but once Haye lost to Tony Bellew and he decided to retire Salas’ services were no longer needed and he moved to Sheffield to train with well respected Dominic Ingle.

Moving at such a young age shows he has the desire to improve and isn’t afraid to be away from home to do so.

Since turning professional he has sparred many top fighters including Kell Brook and Liam Williams.

Hutchinson feels his biggest attribute is his boxing brain: “I believe I can adapt to any style to beat that style.”

He’s co-promoted by Hall of Fame Promoter Frank Warren who recognizes the Scottish-born fighter’s vast talent.

“Willy has an outstanding amateur pedigree and I’m confident that he will be a huge success in the paid ranks,” Warren said on his website. “He has an exciting future ahead of him and I look forward to seeing his career develop on our forthcoming shows.”

 Why he’s a suspect: After just six fights and a deep amateur background unsurprisingly he’s yet to show any significant flaws. However, he understands that he needs to continue to improve if he is to reach the levels he and many others are projecting for him.

“Every part of me needs to improve,” he said. “I need to improve in every aspect.”

He’s still very much a work in progress, but you don’t catch the eye of someone like Shelly Finkel – who has worked with a cache of champions – unless you’re seriously talented.

In his most recent fight he scaled 181-pounds but insists he’s going to come down to fight at 168 as a super middleweight. It will be interesting to see how his weight is for his upcoming fight and how he is able to continually make weight going forward.

Storylines: Hutchinson was born in Carstairs, Scotland, he is the eldest of five children and comes from a strong family background.

“I have a great family,” he said. “I’ve been looked after my whole life. Really it’s just been focused on boxing.” 

He was never encouraged to box; it was more something that he fell into.

“I only did boxing for fitness and then I hit an age I didn’t mind it,” he explained. “No one ever pushed me to do it, it’s off my own back.”

His boxing hero is Joe Calzaghe and he hopes to follow in the Hall of Famers lofty footsteps in the coming years.

“To become a world champion and not just a world champion, a multi-weight world champion,” he stated. “I’d love to become super middle, light heavy and cruiserweight world champion.”

He is getting married later this year and says he enjoys spending time with his family and relaxing going to the cinema.

Fight-by-fight record:

2018

Nov. 19 – Ferenc Albert – TKO 2

Aug. 24 – Taha Mirhosseini – TKO 3

May 19 – Adam Jones – PTS 4

Feb. 16 – Eric Mokonzo – PTS 6

2017

Dec. 16 – Cyril Joly – TKO 2

Oct. 20 – Attila Tibor Nagy – TKO 1

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter: @AnsonWainwright