Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson’s clash was interrupted by a technical malfunction on the Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois undercard.
Midway through the light-heavyweight contest, the lights shut off at Wembley Stadium forcing the referee to briefly call a halt to proceedings.
SkyWembley Stadium was submerged in darkness during Buatsi vs Hutchinson[/caption]
Both boxers were left baffled as the ring plunged into darkness in the eighth round.
Luckily, the lights were switched back on quickly and both men went right back to work.
After three decent – but by no means enthralling opening fights – Hutchinson vs Buatsi had the capacity crowd in the English capital on its feet.
The fight came alive in the sixth round when Buatsi dropped Hutchinson with a sustained attack to the body.
Hutchinson appeared to switch off for a moment and was decked by a sweeping left hook to the liver.
Moving into the seventh stanza, the Scotsman came back firing and stiffened Buatsi’s legs with a flurry of hooks.
However, his good work was undone by a point deduction for leading with his head.
In the ninth round, Buatsi sunk Hutchinson again with another big body shot.
But to his credit, the Carstairs man climbed to his feet and went back to fighting fire with fire.
In the end, though, it wasn’t enough to get his hand raised with Buatsi being awarded the split decision.
Buatsi won the fight on pointsMark Robinson/Matchroom
Buatsi dropped Hutchinson twiceGetty
It seemed as though Buatsi had done more than enough to win the contest considering the two knockdowns and the points deduction.
Yet one judge had it 113-112 the other way while the other two officials scored it 117-108 and 115-110 in his favour.
As a result, Buatsi was crowned the new WBO ‘interim’ light-heavyweight champion and is now the alphabet body’s mandatory for the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol on October 12.
Buatsi climbs to 19-0 while Hutchinson falls to 18-2.
British boxing fans will be hoping the long-awaited all-British showdown with Anthony Yarde can be made next.
Yarde vs Buatsi was initially targeted for this card but Yarde splitting with Queensberry Promotions confused matters.
