Lawrence Okolie and David Light recently faced off in a 12-round cruiserweight bout at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom on March 25th, 2023. The WBO cruiserweight champion, Okolie, was making his third title defense. Okolie controlled the action and landed the most of the key blows, making the bout largely one-sided.
Light, who entered the battle with an undefeated record, was unable to generate any meaningful attack and spent the majority of the fight on the defensive. In the end, Okolie won by unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 119-108, 117-110, and 116-112 in his favor.
The fight marked Okolie’s return to action after a 13-month layoff, during which he split from his former promoter, Eddie Hearn, and Matchroom Boxing. He is now signed with Boxxer and promoted by Ben Shalom. Okolie’s win over Light takes his professional record to 19-0, with 15 of those wins coming by way of knockout.
Lawrence spoke with Sky Sports after fight and said, “David Light was extremely tough and he had a good tactic of moving around to his right, but, at the end of the day, there’s no need to make excuses – just get better. “I just couldn’t get the last shot to drop him and get him out of there because he was very tough and very good with his hand defences.
He continued, “The champion did finish with a warning for any future opponents. I will go in the ring and fight anyone. “If they’re watching this and they think ‘Lawrence is rubbish, I can do this, I can do that’, come and find out. I’ll put it on the line against anyone.”
