Lawrence Okolie beats Krzysztof Glowacki to win WBO cruiserweight crown

Lawrence Okolie beats Krzysztof Glowacki to win WBO cruiserweight crown

Lawrence Okolie knocked out Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki in the sixth round to claim the WBO cruiserweight crown at Wembley Arena.

The unbeaten 28-year-old Hackney fighter produced a controlled display as he became the first male member of Great Britain’s 2016 Olympics squad to claim a professional world title.

Okolie followed the game plan of trainer Shane McGuigan perfectly, cutting Glowacki above the eye in the fourth and then finishing off the Pole with an explosive right hook.

#ANDTHENEW 🔥 HE’S DONE IT… BRITAIN HAS A NEW WORLD CHAMP! 🇬🇧 @lawrence_tko 👑 Okolie takes out Glowacki in the sixth, what a performance 👏 #OkolieGlowacki pic.twitter.com/b9z07I9e0w — Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) March 20, 2021

Glowacki’s only losses in his previous 33 professional fights came against world-class pair Oleksandr Usyk and Mairis Briedis, and he represented a significant step up in class for Okolie.

Okolie, though, set his stall out with an early strong right hand during the opening round, but then remained patient as he looked to control the fight from distance.

In the fourth, Glowacki’s chin was tested by a couple of telling jabs and right hooks as a cut opened above his right eye.

The Pole was struggling to find his range, and the end came in the sixth when he was put on his back by another destructive right from Okolie and counted out.

Okolie said afterwards on Sky Sports: “It is crazy, I feel happy and blessed. It is surreal.

“I had confidence throughout the week, was very calm.

“Shane reminded me not to rush, and it went exactly to plan. I said I’d get it done between rounds five and eight.”

… #ANDTHENEW! 🥊 We already knew it was all about the #sauce… so proud of our former crew member and new cruiserweight World Champion @Lawrence_tko 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dXbcnKNpBS — McDonald’s UK (@McDonaldsUK) March 20, 2021

The impressive victory extended Okolie’s record to 16 undefeated fights, with 13 knock-outs.

Okolie will now target unifying the division.

“I am growing into myself as a boxer. It is a process,” he added.

“Out of the champions, Mairis Briedis is the one I’d most like to fight.”

This is all’s I’ve ever wanted in my life, 19 years of Hard work to get this point, I’m so grateful to @McGuigans_Gym for believing in me and making me believe in myself again, I’m excited for this future, let’s throw me in the deep end and see if I can swim 🏊‍♂️ #TeamMachine 🤖 pic.twitter.com/if3HlegWtJ — Anthony Fowler 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (@afowler06) March 20, 2021

On the undercard at Wembley Arena, Anthony Fowler knocked out Spaniard Jorge Fortea in the third round of their WBA international super welterweight title bout.

Super featherweight Joe Cordina maintained his unbeaten record with a majority decision over Faroukh Kourbanov.

Chris Billam-Smith beat Vasil Ducar with a unanimous decision for the vacant WBA continental cruiserweight belt, and featherweight Ellie Scotney won on points against Mailys Gangloff, as did Ramla Ali over Bec Connolly.

Lawrence Okolie vs. Krzysztof Glowacki: Okolie wins his first world title in emphatic fashion

Lawrence Okolie proved his credentials on Saturday, knocking out former titleholder Krzysztof Glowacki to claim the vacant WBO cruiserweight title at the SSE Arena, Wembley.

London’s Okolie, who moves to 16-0 (13 KOs) with his maiden world title win, had been written off by many as a difficult fighter to watch but put on a mesmerising, inch-perfect show against his toughest opponent to date.

Poland’s Glowacki, who held the WBO belt until his last fight in 2019 when he was controversially dethroned by Mairis Briedis before the sanctioning body opted to vacate the title, struggled to throw anything at all in the first three rounds as Okolie demonstrated an excellent jab to put his superior reach to full use.

In round four, Okolie turned up the heat and connected with a number of powerful shots that drastically altered the 34-year-old’s body language as Glowacki realised he was in for a tough night’s work if he was to earn redemption for the nature of his title loss.

And in the early stages of the sixth, Okolie connected with a flush one-two, punctuated by a devastating right as Glowacki came in with his head down. The veteran looked unlikely to answer the count, and when he did return to his feet at eight, he staggered to his corner instead of towards the referee, who completed his journey to ‘10’'.

In his dozen-and-a-quarter professional outings, Okolie has now won the British, Commonwealth, European and a world cruiserweight title. He said after the highlight of his career that he has only just begun.

“Obviously I’m happy,” explained Okolie. “I feel blessed. I was really calm throughout the week. It’s amazing to be able to put an exclamation mark on my life with a world title. Anything you want in life, if you believe, you can do it.

“I have to thank Shane for the gameplan. I was sure I would get to him, but Shane reminded me not to rush. I said I’d get it done between rounds five and eight.

“Four or five years ago, Eddie Hearn saw a boy from Hackney and said ‘if you win a world title, I’ll buy you a gold Rolex Sky Dweller’. Now I want my Sky Dweller. And he said I’d get another one if I unify, too!”

Matchroom promoter Hearn will be close to £40,000 out of pocket when he delivers Okolie his well-deserved Rolex, but was nonetheless over the moon with the nature of his charge’s victory.

“That was one of the great performances to win a world title,” beamed Hearn. “Glowacki is a former two-time champ and a top five cruiserweight in the world. Lawrence has had some stick but he’s stepped in there with 15 fights to his name and put on a masterclass.

“We don’t want to muck around. We want to unify the division then move up to heavyweight.”

Okolie vs. Glowacki undercard results

Joe Cordina beat Faroukh Kourbanov via majority decision (96-96, 98-93, 96-95)

Anthony Fowler beat Jorge Fortea via third-round KO

Ellie Scotney beat Mailys Gangloff via referee’s decision (59-55)

Chris Billam-Smith beat Vasil Ducar via unanimous decision (99-90 x2, 97-92)

Ramla Ali beat Bec Connolly via referee’s decision (60-55)

Bradley Rea beat Lee Cutler via first-round stoppage

Here’s how the action went on the night.

Lawrence Okolie knocks out Krzysztof Glowacki to land WBO world cruiserweight title

Okolie now has a perfect professional record of 16 wins from 16 fights

Great Britain’s Lawrence Okolie delivered a punch-perfect display before landing a sixth-round knockout of Krzysztof Glowacki to become WBO world cruiserweight champion.

In just his 16th professional fight, Okolie used his height and reach to never allow Poland’s Glowacki close.

He started unloading his right hand in the fourth and looked completely at ease against a former world champion.

A pinpoint right ended matters, giving Okolie, 28, his first world title.

“I think I might cry in my hotel room, but not in front of anyone. It’s a blessed feeling. It’s crazy,” Okolie told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It’s important that I become one of Britain’s best cruiserweights and I have the opportunity to do that. This was a good win but there are more tests ahead.”

‘So many people I can inspire’

Okolie has credited trainer Shane McGuigan (second left) for enhancing his belief he could win a world title

The Hackney fighter has come a long way in every sense. Bullied in his teenage years, he used boxing to build self-esteem and shed weight. After an Olympic appearance in 2016, his early years as a professional were the focus of harsh words and ridicule when a run of fights descended into drab, scrappy affairs.

But Okolie’s work ethic in the gym and desire to improve have impressed and a run of slicker displays thrust him into a world-title fight that he dominated from start to finish.

Glowacki - 34 and only beaten twice by Oleksandr Usyk and Mairis Briedis previously - simply had no answer. Those who back Okolie speak of the awkwardness his huge frame causes opponents and believe he will go on to prove a menace at heavyweight.

Here, his size allowed him to work at distance and his power shone through when called upon.

A smart hook in the first, crisp jabs in the third and a succession of hard right hooks in the fourth left the bloodied Glowacki in no doubt that his opponent was more than capable of dealing with a gulf in experience.

And in the sixth, when Glowacki crouched in search of an opening for a second too long, a right hand to the jaw left him unable to make the count and secured the world title Okolie believes will allow him to inspire children on the estate on which he grew up.

“Doing all these interviews, realising how much this means - not just to me but to so many people that I can inspire - it feels amazing to go in and actually get it done,” added Okolie.

“I’m coming into my own, starting to believe in boxing. I used to just believe in my physical strength, the fact I can hit someone hard and stop them. Now we’re getting into boxing. Keeping it long, moving it fast… I’m just happy that there’s progress.”

Current British and Irish world champions Men Women Anthony Joshua (Heavyweight - IBF, WBA, WBO) Savannah Marshall (Middleweight - WBO) Tyson Fury (Heavyweight - WBC) Chantelle Cameron (Super-lightweight - WBC) Lawrence Okolie (Cruiserweight - WBO) Katie Taylor (Lightweight - WBA, WBO, IBF, WBC) Billy Joe Saunders (Super-middleweight - WBO) Terri Harper (Super-featherweight - WBC) Josh Taylor (Super-lightweight - WBA & IBF)

Some may point to Glowacki’s 21 months out of the ring - including a spell suffering with Covid-19 - as evidence of a fighter who was vulnerable.

But the poise Okolie showed, the ease with which he handled the occasion and the destructive finish served up all point to a fighter going places.

A world title seemed a distant dream when he worked in McDonalds less than a decade ago and when criticism flowed his way for ugly displays in 2018.

Not for the first time, Okolie has emerged from testing times and can now add world-champion status to the British, Commonwealth and European honours he has already collected.

‘Unify and hit heavyweight’ - what they said…

Okolie said promoter Eddie Hearn promised him a gold watch if he became a world champion

BBC Radio 5 Live Boxing analyst Steve Bunce: “There’s one or two people in British boxing who tend to think Okolie is cocky, that he is too flash.

“He’s got a touch of Naseem Hamed about him. That’s confidence, not arrogance. He’s a really decent man. That’s pure confidence.

“We saw it in this fight - he never once took his eye off what he had to do. Every moment he was thinking, learning. He could have tried to force it but he didn’t. That’s what I like about him.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn: “That was one of the great performances to win a world title. Krzysztof Glowacki is one of the top five cruiserweights in the world.

“He is a novice and he has stepped in tonight with 15 fights, and you just wonder if he is good enough? My goodness, that was as good a performance to beat any cruiserweight. That’s what we want to do, to unify the division and then step up to heavyweight.”

British heavyweight Joe Joyce on Radio 5 Live: “Okolie is improving all the time, it’s only going to go strength to strength. Long range, devastating power. I’m looking forward to some big fights for him.”

‘As awkward as they come’ - social reaction

Former world champion Liam Smith

British super-middleweight Chris Eubank Jr