Cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie, One of the Most Dangerous Rising World Champion in 2022
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Watch out for the sauce. Lawrence “The Sauce” Okolie, 17-0 with 14 knockouts, Hackney, London, United Kingdom, the World Boxing Organization World Cruiserweight champion, and a former British and European cruiserweight champion, is the most dangerous rising world champion today, and the most dangerous fighter to come out of the United Kingdom of recent since Anthony Joshua in the higher weight classes.
In only five years, Okolie, age 29, has dominated the cruiserweight division, and he is the best chance of unifying the division against its best champions and contenders in 2022 and 2023. Okolie was a 2016 Olympian in Rio de Janeiro, winning his opening round match. His professional debut against Geoffrey at Manchester Arena in 2017 lasted only 20 seconds. His first four pro bouts all ended in the first round with a combined time length of six minutes and six seconds.
Okolie has gone ten rounds once, and 12 rounds once, and his disciplined work ethic is not in question. Okolie’s only drawback is, like Sven Ottke and others, Okolie has not fought outside of his home country. Super mega bouts will usually involve travel to places like Las Vegas and Monte Carlo, and Okolie will have to prove himself at the higher level of ability in the near future as unifications and more serious challengers face off with him.
Poland’s 21-1 Michal Cieslak will challenge Okolie on February 27, 2021 at 02 Arena in Greenwich if the bout goes off. The United Kingdom shut down boxing in January 2022 due to the Omicron Variant of the coronavirus Pandemic, which has infected over 303 million people worldwide, and continues to put spectator sports at risk. In January 2020, Cieslak incurred his only loss, a 12 round points decision in Kinshasa, The Congo, to southpaw World Boxing Council World cruiserweight champion Ilunga Junior Makabu.
Okolie is the hardest hitting cruiserweight in modern history, and his rise has been meteoric. The challenge for Matchroom Boxing will be to put Okolie in with Makabu, Mairis Breidis, Yuniel Dorticos, Mateusz Masternak, Andrew Tabiti, Mike Perez, and the biggest names in the cruiserweight division not transitioning to heavyweight. The greater challenge during the Coronavirus Pandemic is not to wind up in a position of inactivity. From Mikey Garcia to Julian Williams, some of the world’s best fighters have been done in by inactivity. Okolie has to keep moving until he unifies the division in the near future. Cieslak is the best name Okolie has yet faced. The going will get tougher if he beats him.
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