Scotland is celebrating a new boxing world champion after Willy Hutchinson produced the performance of his life to beat Joshua Buatsi in Manchester and claim the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) light-heavyweight belt.The 28-year-old from Carstairs was superior in every department and toyed with his London-based rival while avenging the 2024 defeat he endured at the hands of Buatsi.Hutchinson had insisted in the build-up he had matured since that setback and was a more complete fighter, and he went about proving it in devastating style by showing off expert footwork, evasive movement and sharp counterpunching to flummox Buatsi.The judges scored the fight 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113, all in Hutchinson’s favour, and the majority of the crowd in the AO Arena went wild to acclaim the new champion.The contest was initially for the interim title but was upgraded when American David Benavidez gave up the WBC gold to move up to cruiserweight. And it proved a dream come true for Scotland’s Hutchinson, who had told before the fight about how he’d targeted becoming a WBC champion at the age of 13.As he celebrated a famous victory in the ring, an emotional Hutchinson said: ‘I want to tell the story one more time. I was 13 years old. My dad was working in Sweden. I signed it in a book, I said I will become a world champion. Let’s go! Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson lands a punch on Joshua Buatsi at the AO Arena in Manchester Hutchinson proudly holds the WBC light-heavyweight title belt after outclassing his opponent ‘Can I say thank you to my coach because I’ll tell you one thing, without him I don’t think I’d be here today, let alone boxing. This man dug me out of a hole that I never thought that I would get out of, so this is all a bonus, baby.’Hutchinson immediately set his sights on an all-British showdown against three-time former world title challenger Anthony Yarde, who was ringside in Manchester.Eyeing up the Londoner, Hutchinson said: ‘Anthony Yarde, do you want some of this?‘He’s no walkover but let’s go. Him next.’Yarde, 35, responded: ‘It’s 100 per cent a fight I’d love to take.’Another option could be the winner of next month’s mouth-watering tussle between Dmitry Bivol and Callum Smith in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where the other three light-heavyweight titles are on the line.Beat the winner of that one and Hutchinson – who now boasts a record of 21 victories with two defeats – could find himself the undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world in 2027.Suddenly, things just got a whole lot brighter for Scottish boxing.