Lawrence Okolie given shock world rating after transfer to heavyweight confirmed

by Christina S. Brown
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Okolie represented Workforce GB on the Rio 2016 Olympics however was trumped by eventual bronze medallist Erislandy Savon within the Spherical of 16, encouraging him to make the swap to the skilled ranks the next yr.

‘The Sauce’ scored seven wins and 6 knockouts in his debut yr earlier than stepping as much as defeat the likes of Isaac Chamberlain and Luke Watkins – incomes him a shot at Matty Askin’s British title, which he gained by way of unanimous choice on the Joshua-Povetkin card at Wembley Stadium in September 2018.

The Hackney-born power-puncher then proceeded to supply a run of seven consecutive knockout wins, the sixth of which got here in opposition to two-time world champion Krzysztof Glowacki in a bid for the vacant WBO cruiserweight world title – and the seventh being a primary defence of the belt in opposition to Dilan Prasovic earlier than Michal Cieslak was capable of final the space with Okolie.

Nevertheless, Okolie underwhelmed when he confronted New Zealand’s David Gentle final March and that bout marked the start of the tip as Chris Billam-Smith was capable of upset the percentages and defeat the previous Olympian by majority-decision handy Okolie a primary profession defeat.

The now 31-year-old obtained heaps of criticism for his efficiency in opposition to Billam-Smith – his fan-friendly model that gave him early success now a factor of the previous on the high degree – changed by a nasty behavior of clinching and successful contests in a boring method.

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