Scottish light heavyweight contender Willy Hutchinson has joined forces with trainer Shane McGuigan.

Hutchinson is coming off two big fights, a points victory over Craig Richards and a defeat to former Team GB Olympian Joshua Buatsi. 

McGuigan was in the opposite corner, with Richards, when the Essex contender lost to “The Hutch Train”, who comes from Carstairs in Scotland, in Saudi Arabia last year.  

Hutchinson, who is 18-2 (13 KOs), is 6ft 1ins and the 26-year-old is a skilled operator.

“This is going to be special. I’m now being trained by Shane McGuigan,” Hutchinson posted on social media. “I’ll be having fight news coming end of this week. Time to go get these world titles.”  

The coach and fighter made contact via Instagram.

“I’ve known Willy a long time, but I actually reached out to him years ago, whenever he was having a bit of downtime in his life, because Robbie Davies [who used to train with McGuigan] and him were both at the Ingles, and I heard that he’d left the Ingle gym, but then he’d gone out to Malaga to train so I didn't obviously want to step on their toes,” McGuigan told BoxingScene. “I said to Robbie, ‘Look, he’s a massively talented kid, and it’d be a shame to see his talent go to waste.’”

But Hutchinson later reached out to McGuigan and they spoke with Hutchinson’s manager, Shelley Finkel, and, following a group call, Hutchinson asked McGuigan to work with him.

At the time, McGuigan was training Craig Richards, whom Hutchinson had defeated, and Richards wound up returning to the Tony Sims gym, but McGuigan said there were no hard feelings and that he had a lot of time and respect for Richards. 

McGuigan was going to train Hutchinson for his fight with Zach Parker earlier this year, but a shoulder injury – a tear in Hutchinson’s supraspinatus – forced the Scot out. Still, McGuigan is clearly excited by the link up. He’s worked with or seen most of Britain’s leading 175-pounders up close, whether it’s in the gym or in the same or opposite corner.

“There were a lot of things to address with Willy, like where he’s going to live and stuff like that,” McGuigan added. “But I think now he's got everything sorted, I think it’s an exciting link-up because there’s a lot of light heavyweights that've come to me and done a bit of work, and I think this lad’s got the most amount of potential.”

Hutchinson turned 26 last August.

“He’s got a phenomenal amount of potential,” added McGuigan. “Obviously, it’s never going to be a lack of talent with Willy Hutchinson, it’s always about the application and the discipline. But I’m a pretty good taskmaster and that sort of thing, so I’ll be able to get through to him. I think I’ll get the best out of him, and I’m excited about working with him. 

“He’s 26 years of age… light heavyweights peak at 29, 30. He’s knocking on the door of world level. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me; it’s a great opportunity for him as well. He’s got to be immersed in a proper camp with a lot of talented fighters around him, and I think he’s going to be a great addition.”

McGuigan’s stable is thriving. He also has former WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith, WBC lightweight queen Caroline Dubois, unified junior featherweight champion Ellie Scotney, 140lbs contender Adam Azim, and light heavyweight prospect Karol Itauma, brother of streaking heavyweight Moses. Itauma is also a newer addition.

“I’ve known Karol a long time, and obviously the hype’s all on his brother and stuff like that, and of course, his brother’s a supersonic talent, so it’s going to be that way, but he’s got a lot of talent himself,” said McGuigan. “I've known him from him being a Kent lad. He’d come down and sparred one of my fighters years ago when he was like 16, 17. He’s a very good fighter in his own right, and I think he just needs to find his feet. With Karol, he’s just had a bit of a break from boxing, and he reached out to Caroline [Dubois] to reach out to me. I said, ‘Yeah, come down to the gym and start training.’”

Itauma boxed on the Ryan Garner bill in Bournemouth last month, stopping Michal Ludwiczak in three rounds, and McGuigan said patience is key for the 24-year-old.

“Look, it's going to be a longer-term project with Karol. He’s obviously in a stacked division, but he might end up being a cruiserweight and actually having a lot more success up there. He’s only a young lad, so I think maybe we’ll move him to cruiser.” 

Itauma has been part of the McGuigan gym since late last year, and the next fighter out for McGuigan is Billam-Smith, who boxes Brandon Glanton on the April 26 show headlined by Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn in London.