Lawrence Okolie v David Light 25/3/23

[Big J]

Okolie needs to worry about Light

[palmerq]

He better not take the commonwealth silver medalist....lightly.......



Commonwealth boxing medals are pretty good to be fair. Obviously Olympics is better but the Commonwealth boxing is a good standard.

[Master]

LAWRENCE OKOLIE will defend his WBO cruiserweight title against David Light at the AO Arena in Manchester.

The Sauce most recently defended his title against Michal Cieslak back in February 2022.

The Hackney-born boxer defeated Cieslak by unanimous decision.

This will be the third time Okolie will be defending his WBO cruiserweight belt.

David Light will be a tough test for the current champion, as the 31-year-old is currently undefeated with an impressive 20-0-0 record.

Lawrence Okolie vs David Light will take place on Saturday, March 25.

The ring walks for the main event are expected to begin at approximately 10pm UK time.

AO Arena in Manchester will be the venue.

Main event: Lawrence Okolie vs David Light
Frazer Clarke vs Rydell Booker
Karriss Artingstall vs Linzi Buczynskyj
Michael Gomez Jnr vs Levi Giles
Rhys Edwards vs Brian Phillips

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/21624...ndercard-odds/

[Master]

Lawrence Okolie has promised to teach ‘delusional’ David Light a lesson — after lessons of his own from Tyson Fury.

The 30-year-old WBO cruiserweight champion sparred with WBC heavyweight champion Fury as recently as Friday. And he can’t wait to try to lure Light into the same kind of traps the Gypsy King sets for his opponents. Okolie said: “I did a little move-around with Tyson on Friday, nothing that crazy, just a little body spar. But it’s good to see with one of the biggest heavyweights what that is like. With Tyson, it’s very much like he’s constantly thinking. He knows how to use his height, reach and weight all in different parts of the ring.

"I won’t go into the intricacies but you can feel it and he’s good enough to talk me through what he is doing. It’s like he says, ‘I’ve got you here’, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this doesn’t feel nice. Okay, I’m going to try that’. He’s very technically sound. I’m not talking about throwing a one-two correctly, it’s about tactically and positionally in terms of actually winning a boxing match, he has all these skills and they show.”

Okolie takes on Kiwi challenger Light on Boxxer’s show in Manchester on Saturday. He added: “He’s 20-0 so he’ll obviously be coming with that confidence and belief. But it’s almost delusion, actually, from him and his camp, some of the stuff they have been saying. That lets me know their mindset and sometimes deluded people can cause problems because they don’t understand how things are supposed to go, so you have to teach them. He’s a grown man and he has been boxing for a long time, but they say stuff that to me sounds so stupid, like ‘No one has tried [this or that against Okolie]’.

“It’s like, people have tried before him knowing this is their world title shot. For the last four years plus every fight has meant something to the other person as well as me, they’ve come to win because they know it could be life changing. But then when they come and stand in front of me they realise it’s not their time, so I have to teach David it’s not his.”

Okolie wants two or three fights this year and wants to add to his belt collection before making his long-planned jump up to heavyweight. He said: “I would really like to unify the cruiserweight division before I step up but it really depends on Friday where I am with the weight. Once I have made the weight for this fight I will let people know. If I feel anything other than amazing on Saturday it will be time to move on, but I don’t envision that being the case with this fight. As soon as it becomes too much of a drag, if I have to diet for too long or I have to sweat it out for too long, it’s boring, I don’t like that side of boxing, I like the fighting so I’ll move on.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...9c0cc732&ei=43

[Big J]

I guess I'm the only one here giving Light a chance?

[Master]

I guess I'm the only one here giving Light a chance?

No harm in predicting your own boy. We all do it and sometimes it comes off which gives you a great feeling.

[Master]

The unbeaten New Zealander is adamant he can upset Okolie this weekend.

"I'm coming to win. I know he's a proud man and he's going to defend with everything he's got," he continued. "I'm not reinventing the wheel.

"You've got to punch the other person more than they punch you. I've done the work."

It's the work that Okolie is looking forward to.

"He's coming to win," the champion said of his challenger. "It sets you up for a lot of openings."

But he cautioned: "You don't get to this position overlooking people ever.

"It's a nice safe place to hide behind being the underdog," Okolie continued. "When I see him I know what he really is. I'm prepared for what he may bring and will do what I need to do.

"I am going to be from round one matching him and overmatching him for pressure and power.

"Saturday's going to come. One of us is going to win and the other one's going to become irrelevant.

"So I'm looking for to it."

On the undercard Michael Gomez Jr, the son of hugely popular local fighter Michael Gomez, will fight Levi Giles for the English super-featherweight title.

But as soon as they came face to face on Thursday Gomez Jr sounded raring to get started early.

"I'll punch you up now," Gomez told Giles directly.

"I don't know anything about him," he added with equal belligerence. "Saturday night we'll find out who he is."

Giles remained calm as he faced his opponent. "I do my talking in the ring," he said levelly. "It's a good test for me, see where I'm at.

"We know what he brings. Forward, one dimensional," he added. "We know what he's going to bring and we know how to deal with it."

Gomez shrugged that off. His tactics, he promised, would be more simple. "I'm just going to punch his face in," he said. "I'm just going to go in there, stick it on him and see how good he is."

Olympic bronze medallist Karriss Artingstall was perfectly confident as she went head to head with her opponent Linzi Buczynskyj.

"Her throwing her shots is going to leave more openings for me so I'm going to find my shots as well," Artingstall warned.

"I just wanted the opportunity to show everyone on a big stage what I can actually do," Buczynskyj insisted. "I'm not scared to take any fight. I'll fight anyone at anytime at any stage.

"I have got the experience," she added. "She's the one that's got everything to prove."

But Artingstall promised: "I am a level above you, two levels if anything and I'll show that on Saturday."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...b5df2291&ei=84