Willy Hutchinson aims to fulfil 13-year-old prophecy in WBC rematch with Joshua Buatsi

Willy Hutchinson will attempt to realise a goal he wrote down at age 13 when he faces Joshua Buatsi in a rematch for the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title at Manchester's AO Arena on Saturday. Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson have 27 knockouts between them.

The fight is a rematch of a contest just over two years ago when Buatsi earned a split-decision victory in a fight described as thrilling, and the bout was upgraded from interim to world title status after David Benavidez vacated the WBC belt to move up to cruiserweight. The pair took part in the final news conference at Manchester's New Century Hall ahead of Saturday's championship fight.

Hutchinson, 28, said he had listed his ambitions while working with his father and still retains the notebook in which he set them out at 13. "I wrote on a pen and book that I'll become Scottish, British, European and world amateur champion," he said. "On the opposite side of this book - I'm 13 and I still have this book to this day - I wrote that I'll become WBC champion of the world."

He added: "I already got the silver and the international and now I'm fighting for the main belt." Broadcaster Adam Smith, who hosted Thursday's news conference, invited Hutchinson to bring the book on fight night and the Scot replied: "sure we can sort something".

Hutchinson was also noted in the news conference for his amateur achievement under the nickname 'Hutch-Train'; he became the first Scottish boxer to win gold at an amateur World Championships nearly 10 years ago, triumphing at youth level. He pointed out that the date of that youth world title and the upcoming Buatsi fight are only days apart on the calendar, which he described as "absolutely fantastic".

There was a different tone to the build-up compared with their first encounter, when Hutchinson managed to get under Buatsi's skin; at New Century Hall the tension was more restrained. The pair discussed a growing mutual respect, Hutchinson said he has "had to mature", and during the face-off Hutchinson moved closer to Buatsi though, organisers said, he kept that maturity intact.

Buatsi, 33, said boxing was not a childhood ambition for him and recalled a very different early life before the sport took over. "My life was very different to all of this. Fighting in arenas, winning titles and going to the Olympics, as a little boy, this wasn't a dream of mine," he said, and the conference noted he had claimed an Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games.

The Londoner enters the contest with a professional record of 20 wins and one defeat, and the build-up commentary stated this could be Buatsi's only chance of winning a world title. He appeared relaxed throughout the news conference and mingled with the media afterwards.

On his route into the sport and his changing ambition Buatsi said: "When I started the sport, I got off to winning ways, carried on, and then the dream came," and added: "As a little boy, if you asked if I wanted to do this, hell no. "I didn't have the vision for it, but now I've had it, we've tuned in on it, and we're almost there."

With the interim designation removed and the WBC title vacant following Benavidez's move up in weight, the two competitors will meet on Saturday at Manchester's AO Arena with the world light-heavyweight belt at stake.