Okolie Headlines Against Light on Boxxer Debut

Okolie Headlines Against Light on Boxxer Debut

By Matt Elliott

After what feels like months of back-and-forth with Eddie Hearn following his split with Matchroom, WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie (18-0) finally makes his Boxxer debut this weekend as he defends his title for the third time against New Zealander David Light (20-0), at the AO Arena in Manchester.

As well as fighting under a new promotional banner, Okolie will also have a new man in his corner, with SugarHill Steward, most widely known for his affiliation with Tyson Fury, replacing Shane McGuigan, who had worked with Okolie since 2019 and been a key figure as he achieved his ambition of becoming a world champion. Both McGuigan and Okolie have acknowledged the split as amicable, unlike his parting with Matchroom, with the key reason cited as Okolie’s decision to relocate his life to Dubai.

His link-up with SugarHill is in its infancy, but it will be interesting to see if any subtle changes have been made during their short time together. With Fury, SugarHill inherited a very technical and powerful boxer, but he has instilled an aggression and that familiar Kronk style, which has been evident in the four fights he has presided over to date. Okolie, who has won fourteen of his eighteen professional victories by knockout, and who is arguably a heavyweight in waiting, could certainly benefit from that style. Despite his high knockout percentage, some have labelled him as ‘boring’ and his last fight, a points victory over Michal Cieslak, did little to quash that tag.

The fight with Light is Okolie’s first outing in over twelve months and is a mandatory defence of his WBO title. Light comes into the fight with a 20-0 record but he was troubled against Brandon Glanton last time out. Light eventually secured a split decision victory, which saw him secure the WBO Global and WBO International cruiserweight titles, but he had to recover from a final-round knockdown in order to do so.

This feels like a good opportunity for Okolie to get off to a winning start under Boxxer and Ben Shalom and put the out-of-ring stuff behind him. He will hope that victory will set up future unification bouts, with recently crowned WBC champion Badou Jack likely to be firmly in his sights.

Elsewhere on the card, it’s been another frustrating build-up to fight night for Frazer Clarke (5-0). He was originally scheduled to face Rydell Booker but the American was taken ill over the weekend and Clarke is now set to face Bogdan Dinu (20-4). On the plus side, he has a replacement opponent, albeit an inactive one. Dinu last fought in March 2022, losing by knockout to Kevin Lerena in the fourth round. Prior to that, he faced Daniel Dubois in June 2021, this time being knocked out inside two rounds. Booker had lost five of his last eight and at forty-two his best days are behind him, but he fought four times last year, has a history of going the distance and you feel would have provided Clarke with more of a challenge.

Karriss Artingstall (2-0) faces Linzi Buczynskyj (4-1) in the featherweight division as she looks to continue her rise through the professional ranks, whilst super-middleweight Callum Simpson (10-0) meets Celso Neves (9-3-2). Simpson has been building steadily since his debut in 2019 and this will be a good test against Neves who went the distance with Felix Cash last December.

There is an intriguing clash between Michael Gomez Jr (18-1) and Levi Giles (13-0) for the vacant English super-featherweight title and the card also sees the return of Samuel Antwi (14-2) who will be looking to put his defeat to Ekow Essuman behind him when he faces Omir Rodriguez (13-4-1).

Rhys Edwards (13-0) takes on Brian Phillips (12-3) in the featherweight division and unbeaten middleweight Aaron McKenna (15-0) faces Lukas Ndafoluma (22-6). Another middleweight looking to preserve his unbeaten record is Shakiel Thompson (9-0) who takes on Robert Talarek (27-17-3).

Frankie Stringer (4-0) will meet Jakub Laskowski (4-22-1) in the lightweight division and super-welterweight Harvey Lambert (1-0) has his second professional fight against Casey Brown (4-1).