Lawrence Okolie fights David Light for the WBO world cruiser title tonight live on Sky Sports; Light could wreck Okolie's ultimate goals of fighting British rivals and stepping up to heavyweight to challenge the sport's biggest names; Okolie knows Light will come for him "guns blazing"
Saturday 25 March 2023 11:04, UK
“I say to myself: Don’t slip up.” Lawrence Okolie has too much to lose.
The Hackney cruiserweight takes on David Light at the Manchester Arena on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports.
He is putting at risk not only the WBO world title he holds but also a thrilling array of potential showdowns with British rivals, the chance to unify belts in future and the opportunity ultimately to move up and fight the biggest names at heavyweight.
Light, the unbeaten contender from New Zealand, is no hand-picked challenger either. He is the mandatory for Okolie's championship. It means he fought his way through to this moment and Light has been training and preparing for Okolie in particular for a long, long time.
"I feel he's going to be coming guns blazing and it's going to be very physical. It's up to me to set the traps and do what I'm meant to do," Okolie told Sky Sports.
"It'll be fun to see him give it his best shot. For me I'm so interested in doing certain things, there's certain traps I want to set and if I'm able to do that, I'll be so happy with the performance.
"I've seen enough of him. I know what I'm in there with. Although it could be a hard fight, if I do what I'm meant to do, it's an easy fight. If I don't, oh my God, we're in for a long night."
Okolie wants too to set down a marker for British rivals with a performance on Saturday.
"I'm ruling the pack for a reason so I need to go in there and do what I'm meant to do because there'll be some big, big nights. Me and other people will be much bigger fights than this one," Okolie said.
"But this one is the mandatory, he's earned his shot, I need to treat him as such."
Remaining a cruiserweight champion could be vital too for one of his long-term goals, making an impactful move up to heavyweight.
Okolie pointed out that the WBO have a rule that when one of their champions moves up a weight class, they become the mandatory challenger in the division above.
The Londoner could pursue becoming a two-weight world champion. He reckons he would enjoy fighting heavyweights.
"They're a lot slower and they get tired a lot easier," Okolie said.
"If you've got enough power to keep them off, otherwise they walk forward and they grind you down. If you've got enough power and they have to respect it, it's a good mix."
Okolie, long before he became a champion in his own right, was once a sparring partner for Anthony Joshua. The two meeting in a high-profile heavyweight clash is an intriguing thought.
"I wouldn't disrespect him or call him out or anything like that because he's someone that I've looked up to as a role model," Okolie said. "However, as a friend, if he says to me do you want to make millions, I don't want to say no."
Okolie clearly would expect to carry his punch power up to heavyweight. He had predicted he will beat Saturday's challenger Light inside the distance.
Bournemouth's Chris Billam-Smith is a world class cruiserweight himself and used to spar with Okolie when they were both at Shane McGuigan's gym.
He is also predicting Okolie will beat Light by knockout.
"[Light] had a good win against Brandon Glanton, which is a real good win," Billam-Smith said. "He got dropped in that fight and then got up to win.
"I fancy Lawrence to get rid of him fairly early. I think Lawrence is a huge puncher, once he hits him he'll go."
This will be Okolie's first fight with new trainer SugarHill Steward. Billam-Smith expects that to be an effective partnership.
"I don't think there was anything wrong with the way Shane was training him but he went so I think if there was another coach to be able to be good for Lawrence I think it's a good fit," the Bournemouth man said.
"I think if he can get that Kronk [gym] style, I think it will work well for him. With long levers, if you look at Tommy Hearns, he had a massive right hand just like Lawrence.
"If he can adapt the Kronk style and be like that, I think it will work well for him."
There are other heavy hitters on the card at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday. The largest of them might be "Big Fraze" Frazer Clarke, who meets tall Romanian Bogdan Dinu.
"He's a tough, durable man," Clarke said of Dinu. "Looking at him, his last few performances and the people he's been in with, for my sixth fight, it's not a bad person to be in the ring with."
He warned: "Anyone can tear into someone. What a lot of heavyweights don't have is the brain and the skills. So that's my first point of call, then if there's someone to tear into, I'm all for that."
Clarke also has a tremendous track record as an amateur, that culminated in him captaining Britain's most successful Olympic boxing team in a century and winning a super-heavyweight bronze medal at the Tokyo Games himself.
"I know what I'm capable of," he said. "Every heavyweight in this country, bar two or three, would love my trophy cabinet, they would be so proud of that.
"To me that's forgot about, it's about now, it's about moving forward, it's about making a name for myself in professional boxing."
This contest against Dinu will be Clarke's first eight rounder. But he's expecting to push forward and fight for titles this year.
"There's no need to go the slow route," he said.
That could put him on a collision course with current British champion, Fabio Wardley.
"I heard some astonishing talk about 'when he gets to the same level as Fabio Wardley.' I had to double check. Are people serious? Yeah, he's British champion, it's not personal, but if people think he's levels above me they need to go and watch boxing," Clarke said.
"In no way, shape or form."
Likewise Callum Simpson is looking to stand out on the Manchester bill.
The popular Barnsley fighter won the Central Area super-middleweight title in his last fight and now gets his chance to make a statement on a big arena show.
"This is my opportunity. I've been working since I was nine years old, I've been going under the radar," he said. "It's my time to shine now, a big opportunity for me. I'm excited for it."
He will be looking to put the pressure on opponent Celso Neves.
"Any boxer would be lying if they said they don't want to knock someone out," he said.
"I feel like if I go out and do what I need to do and box how I can and fight how I can then the knockout will come. If it doesn't, I'm more than prepared to go the full distance.
"But of course everyone wants a knockout."
