Joshua Buatsi surprised with stoppage win

Team GB's Joshua Buatsi on May 29, 2015
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Great Britain's Joshua Buatsi says that he was surprised to have recorded a stoppage win over Elshod Rasulov, which saw him reach the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games.

Great Britain's Joshua Buatsi has said that he was suffering from nerves ahead of his last-16 clash with Elshod Rasulov.

Buatsi produced the best performance of Team GB's boxers in Rio de Janeiro as he floored Rasulov three times on the way to an excellent win, but the light-heavyweight has suggested that he did not expect to register a stoppage win over the Uzbekistan fighter.

The 23-year-old told reporters: "I wasn't expecting to knock him out. I was just trying to dominate and dominate. The pressure was getting to him and I thought I should just carry on. I hurt him with a shot and just capitalised on it.

"I was absolutely nervous going into that fight. I don't know why. I got in the ring and I was proper nervous but I got in there and the ring became smaller to me and I saw no one but him."

Buatsi is next in action on Sunday evening, when he faces Algeria's Abdelhafid Benchabla.

Team GB boxer Joe Joyce celebrates following his win over Moldova's Alexei Zavatin at the European Games in Baku on June 20, 2015
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