Lawrence Okolie was ultimately successful in his match against the #1 WBO contender, David Light. Though he won the fight by unanimous decision and wide score margins of 116-112, 117-110 and 119-108, the event was slightly marred by the drabness of the main event, and the lack of interesting fights on the rest of the card. The event was held at the Manchester Arena (in Manchester, England/UK) on March 25th.
Despite the success of Lawrence Okolie (19-0, 14 KO’s) in triumphing over David Light (20-1, 12 KO’s), his performance was heavily put under question throughout the match to the point that even the crowd – which mostly favored him – booed as a result of his rather tedious fighting style which often saw him holding his opponent. It even came to the point that he was deducted a point for excessive holding in the 11th round.
With Okolie not having fought since disposing of challenger Michal Cieslak (23-2, 17 KO’s) more than a year ago in April of 2022, the Briton came into the ring with a new trainer in Sugar Hill Steward, who is best known for training Tyson Fury. Sugar Hill Steward is also known for being the nephew of the late Emanuel Steward, most famous for teaching multiple high-profile boxers the Kronk-style of fighting which focuses on making fighters better in whatever aspect is possible, which mostly boils down to the boxer’s fundamentals steadily improving as well as their aggression, accuracy, speed and power.
Throughout the match, it became clear that Okolie wasn’t truly willing to mix it in with his opponent by the way he sought to control the fight with his jab, which he also often used to set up his dangerous right hand. Both fighters seemed hesitant to throw combinations, which led to a rather uninteresting fought where Light sought – and mostly failed – to damage Okolie on the inside who kept him at bay with his jab and clinches.
Both fighters managed to get some good shots in, but it was Okolie who virtually controlled the pace of the fight with his speed. It wasn’t much of a technical chess match however, despite both boxers being relatively known to have advanced boxing skills. With Lawrence Okolie resigning to constantly disrupting Light instead, the match seemed almost mechanical and completely predictable with Okolie often switching between holding, jabbing and sometimes landing his right while David Light looked most content with throwing single debilitating shots which Okolie often defended against.
By the end of the 12th round, it was clear that Okolie had edged most of the rounds, and he justly won by unanimous decision. David Light had been a tough challenger to overcome as Okolie found it hard to truly break through the New Zealander’s grit and resilience, but the Brit did not seem to have made the progress as expected after taking up a new trainer in Sugar Hill. He did prove to be a constant threat however with both hands often making Light think twice about stepping forward, but neither fighter truly did anything to make the fight spectacularly entertaining.
David Light, nicknamed The Great White’, suffered the first loss of his career but proved to belong at the top by the way he always seemed to endanger the WBO Cruiserweight champion. His toughness, most of all, and power in his right hand as well as a well-balanced set of skills would make for a tough fight for anyone top fighter in the division.
Though Lawrence Okolie might not have put up a breathtaking performance that saw him stopping or dropping David Light, he again proved why he was a world champion with the combination of his physicality and learned boxing skills. There was some concern with the number of times he held his opponent, but those same disrupting tactics clearly worked in his favor as he neutralized David Light’s attempts to throw combinations.
Despite having just wrapped up his third title defense, Okolie has plenty to prove and tons of new challenges to face, amongst them fellow Brits Chris Billam-Smith (17-1, 12 KO’s) and Richard Riakporhe (16-0, 12 KO’s) who both seem to be able to give him a good fight, if not a loss entirely. The division also sees three other reigning champions who could potentially trouble Okolie if they ever decided to unify with him in Badou Jack (28-3-3, 17 KO’s), Jai Opetaia (22-0, 17 KO’s) and Arsen Goulamirian (27-0, 18 KO’s).
Notably, the next most pivotal bout on the fight card was a main card match between Heavyweights Frazer Clarke (6-0, 5 KO’s) and Bogdan Dinu (20-5, 16 KO’s). British Heavyweight Clarke impressed in just his sixth fight when he managed to make Dinu retire on his stool before the third round could commence, subsequently handing the Romanian his fifth loss career loss while Clarke netted his fifth win by stoppage or knockout.
