Buatsi believes now is the time to fight rival London light-heavyweight Yarde.

In a message for Yarde, he declared: "While the titles are tied up, let's do something.

"If Yarde is the man for me to box next, I'm more than happy to make that happen," Buatsi told Sky Sports.

After going the distance with Stepien, Buatsi could be viewed as the underdog going into a fight with Yarde.

"Maybe," Buatsi said. "Someone might sit there and say, 'Yarde's explosive. He's going to come, he's going to bang him out.'

"Let's see if that would happen."

Buatsi knows that a fight with Yarde is almost guaranteed to deliver fireworks. He'll be looking to win it by knockout himself.

"I wouldn't say it would be easy but I think it's something that's doable," he said. "I just know I can win and there would be 12 rounds to try and do it."

"Yarde came off a loss. Would he fight me next? But usually, when people come off a world championship loss they fight a lower-level opponent to get the ball rolling again. Then they might jump back in. But there's been some that have jumped straight back into a big fight.

"He might say I want big fights back to back to back and say let's fight Buatsi.

"It can happen."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...7de9c27&ei=154