Alen 'The Savage' Babic has offered his advice to Lawrence Okolie following his defeat to Lukasz Rozanski last year; watch Okolie against Rozanski in Rzeszow, Poland on Friday night, live on Sky Sports
Thursday 23 May 2024 16:36, UK
Lawrence Okolie must be braced for the "perfect storm" when he fights Lukasz Rozanski for the WBC bridgerweight title in Poland, says Alen Babic.
Okolie brought 'The Savage' Babic in for sparring sessions as he prepared for a hostile atmosphere and Rozanki's full-throttle fighting style in Rzeszow on Friday night, live on Sky Sports.
Babic knows all about Rozanski's threat after suffering a first-round loss to the Pole last April and has passed on advice to Okolie, who is seeking a world title in a second weight division after a points defeat to Chris Billam-Smith ended his reign as WBO cruiserweight king.
"The perfect storm," Babic told Sky Sports. "Rozanski does create a storm. He knows he can't outbox me. He can't outbox Lawrence Okolie, for sure. He's a bit older and he's at the end of his career, so he knows all of it.
"That's why I said to Lawrence, don't get into his fight. He's going to run at you. He's going to literally run across the ring for Okolie. Boxers, we are not used to that. I won 11 fights at the same thing. I have like five first-round knockouts.
"I can also create that kind of storm. That's why Okolie called me. I said that to him, because Lawrence does get a bit lazy in his sparring and his fights, he can't do that. He can't afford that, because it will be over in a split second.
"I always call it the perfect storm, because it really was in my case. The perfect storm against me."
Rozanski has demonstrated his ruthless instincts with 14 stoppages from 15 fights, but Babic insists Okolie will be the last man standing if he replicates the explosive skills that he has demonstrated in sparring.
"The right hand of Okolie might as well be the deciding factor of this fight," said Babic. "His right hand is lethal. Very lethal. And the uppercut. He has everything he needs for Rozanski. Let's just put it like that.
"He is bigger than me. He is twice the size of Rozanski. He is big. He is strong. He can take a punch. He can give a punch. But also he can get distracted.
"He had some moments in his career where he also was like I was against Rozanski. Just like Okolie is not there? I know him at his best sparring day. I can't touch him. I know him on his worst sparring day. I can do whatever I want. So it doesn't really depend on Rozanski. It depends on which Okolie is going to show up."
Babic admitted he fell victim to an atmosphere that 'sucked the energy' from him while losing to Rozanski in the opening minutes and has offered some words of caution.
"I just told him, if you come into that fight night ready, as you are for this sparring, you're going to be good," Babic continued. "But the only fear for me is Lawrence Okolie not coming in ready, because he did have some good sparring and some bad sparring.
"So he just needs to make sure he comes to the fight night at his top performance, or at least high on his level. But if he comes in as a bad Okolie, he can have a problem. He can have many problems.
"I think it's more of a mental thing. Rozanski fought all of his fights in the same venue, in the same city.
"In there I wasn't myself. I'm not going to blame nobody for nothing, but they do create the kind of perfect storm that just sucks the energy out of you."
Babic marked his return to action with a brutal sixth-round stoppage victory over Steve Robinson, and is now due to face British heavyweight Johnny Fisher on July 6.
"It's a very wrong fight for them. Very wrong fight," said Babic.
"Fisher is a very good friend of mine. I look at him as a friend. We're going to postpone the friendship until after the fight.
"Probably somebody thought I'm done. I'm 33 years old. I'm just getting started. 'The Savage' is just beginning his quest.
"This is a perfect opportunity. I have a full seven weeks of camp, [I've been] sparring Okolie, former world champion, probably the new world champion. I think somebody made an error. I think somebody made a very big error.
"I'm going to make them pay for it. I think it's a grave error."
Lawrence Okolie challenges Lukasz Rozanski for the WBC bridgerweight title on Friday, live on Sky Sports from 10pm.
