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Okolie became the New WBO World Cruiserweight Champion. Lawrence Okolie knocks out Krzysztof Glowacki to become the new WBO World cruiserweight champion at the SSE Arena Wembley, London. The crushing right hand-induced spectacular knockout in the sixth round marks the beginning of the reign of Lawrence Okolie as the new WBO Cruiserweight champion
Lawrence Okolie unleashed a devastating right hand to drop Krzysztof Glowacki and the referee Marcus McDonnell of the United Kingdom counted him out in the sixth round at the SSE Arena.
Lawrence Okolie is following in the footsteps of Tony Bellew, David Hay, and Johnny Nelson who have all previously held the world cruiserweight belt.
From the start, the Briton demonstrated a clear advantage over the Pole as he had longer limb which he used to out jabbed him while delivering nauseating body shots.
Okolie continued to target Glowacki’s ribs in the third, then intensified his assault in the fourth as a right hand wobbled his 34-year-old opponent.
Jolting jabs punished Glowacki whenever he strayed into the range in the fifth before Okolie brought an abrupt ending to the fight in the following round.
A destructive right hand dumped Glowacki on his back and he clambered unsteadily to his feet, prompting referee McDonnell to signal Okolie’s triumph.
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.
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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.”
Round By Round Review
Round 1: Okolie works the jab for much of a tentative first round, mixing in a couple of decent body shots as well. Glowacki doesn’t throw much in that opening three minutes, as Okolie’s reach looks like it will be as big a mountain for the Pole to climb as many predicted. 10-9 Okolie.
Round 2: Glowacki almost certainly sees the middle or later rounds as his path to victory, here. Once again, he throws very little and focuses on making himself very awkward to land on. Okolie connects with a few good shots and is two rounds up, but there’s a long way to go.
Round 3: That left jab of Okolie’s continues to look very slick, and as Glowacki tries to throw a few serious shots the Brit does a good job of evading most of them. A very encouraging start from the Londoner, patient and to his own strengths. 30-27.
Round 4: Okolie steps up the quality of his shots in the fourth and lands a number of powerful shots. You can see in Glowacki’s eyes just how well Okolie hits. The Pole is soaking them up for now, but it’s another comfortable round for Lawrence. 40-36.
Round 5: Some crimson on the right eye of Glowacki as Okolie continues to have his way. There are few more efforts coming from the veteran as he and his corner realise they’re going to need to do something significant soon, but after five rounds it has been a shut-out thus far.
Round 6: 30 seconds into the sixth round and Okolie finds the money shot, absolutely dazing Glowacki with a lovely combo! Glowacki staggers up at eight and walks straight to his corner instead of addressing the ref. He’s done! Okolie is the new WBO cruiserweight champion!
Happy days for champion Lawrence Okolie as he enjoys his world cruiserweight belt and his gold Rolex Sky-Dweller.
