IN the build-up to tonight’s (March 25) dominant win towards David Light, his WBO obligatory challenger, Lawrence Okolie, when requested to clarify why he had determined to maneuver from Matchroom and DAZN to Boxxer and Sky Sports, answered by saying this: “You have a choice as a fighter to go where you are celebrated, or go to where you are tolerated, and I felt like I was being tolerated at my last place. And I could be celebrated here depending on how I get on in terms of wins and then we go from there.”
One wonders now, having watched Okolie defeat Light over 12 boring rounds on Sky Sports, whether or not the problem with Okolie is that he’s destined at all times to be a fighter tolerated quite than celebrated. Or possibly, like so many awkward and rangy massive males earlier than him, the Londoner is solely a fighter to be revered quite than loved.
Either approach, whether or not tolerated or celebrated, and whether or not revered or loved, it was laborious to seek out a lot entertainment in the 36 minutes Okolie spent in the corporate of David Light, a New Zealander whose toughness was spectacular however whose primary rating stays a thriller all of its personal.
Together, these two cruiserweights tried over and once more to determine one another out, however, finally, to no avail. Okolie, the puncher and the one at all times in entrance, tried to determine the right way to put a dent in Light and safe the stoppage he wanted in order to alter the narrative of the efficiency (taking it from boring to methodical). Light, on the opposite hand, tried with out success to get inside Okolie’s lengthy arms and work when up shut, hoping to win a clear spherical on the very least.
As it turned out, neither man achieved their purpose. Even with 36 minutes in which to take action, Okolie couldn’t drop Light, not to mention cease him, and Light struggled to do sufficient to warrant him profitable rounds on the scorecards, resulting in a unanimous resolution on the bout’s conclusion (119-108, 117-110, 116-112).
Interestingly, the scorecards delivered on the finish of the bout included a level deduction for Okolie in the eleventh spherical, which, given the sample of the fight, says all the things it’s essential find out about each the fight and Okolie as a fighter. He was, in any case, nicely forward on the level of the deduction, with no worry in any respect of coming unstuck, and but, so ungainly is his fashion, nonetheless Okolie someway conspired to get himself in sufficient tangles to have the referee, Michael Alexander, inform him to cease after which dock a level.
Holding, usually, is a transfer related to survival, however with Okolie it’s a transfer he makes use of for security from a dominant place. He isn’t the primary fighter to function this manner, after all, but it’s a jarring sight nonetheless, significantly given the instruments at Okolie’s disposal and the bodily benefits he boasts over just about each opponent he faces.
With these instruments, and with these benefits, the mere risk of him touchdown one thing clear was tonight sufficient to place Light in his shell early and maintain him there all through the fight. For although Okolie by no means actually snaps his jab, or commits to multiple or two punches at a time, Light, similar to everybody watching on the surface, might sense Okolie was lining up his devastating proper hand and due to this fact needed to be on guard always.
To his credit score, he was as nicely. His defence was tight, even when his assault was extraordinarily restricted, and Light’s chin additionally held up when late on in the fight, in rounds 10 and 11, he began to take some heavier blows and located his legs start to betray him. By then, Okolie had chipped away sufficient at his resistance to depart a mark on Light, however Light’s jaw stood agency, permitting him to say a ethical victory by lasting the complete 12 rounds.
It was, on reflection, the one type of victory accessible to a fighter like David Light, 20-1 (12), in a fight similar to tonight’s. Forget the WBO rating, this was a world title fight in title solely and, furthermore, was the type of world title fight which serves solely to proceed to undermine what it means to be a world champion in 2023.
Indeed, all through this world title fight I discovered myself questioning how each these males would have fared towards different British cruiserweights in current years, together with those that fell wanting world championship degree. I additionally puzzled if Okolie was not in a way hampered by the tag of being a world champion, conscious, simply as I’m certain he’s, that it brings with it a sure stress and expectancy he may not but have the arsenal to beat.
Because Okolie, whatever the truth he has a belt and has received 19 straight fights (14 inside), stays very a lot a work in progress. He is a fighter robust to look at and harder to fight. He is a man, for now, who has no proper to ask to be celebrated, however as a substitute should go on the market and ship a efficiency worthy of being celebrated. He did precisely that in 2021, don’t overlook, when stopping Krzysztof Glowacki in six rounds to seize his present title, however since then, due in massive half to inactivity and promotional wranglings, he has develop into very a lot a fighter whose fights can solely be tolerated.
“I’d give it a five out of 10 because I felt rusty,” an trustworthy Okolie instructed BBC Radio 5 Live afterwards. “I was trying to work the jab and I started to get a bit tired which isn’t like me. After 13 months out of the ring and everything I’ve been through it was hard to get going.”
The followers contained in the Manchester Arena discovered it simpler to get going, with many leaving earlier than the ultimate bell had sounded. That’s no slight on Okolie, for many know the explanation why he struggled tonight, however it’s clearly a signal that, in the case of entertainment, what has no bearing on entertainment is a so-called world title, a so-called primary contender, and the manufacturing of a particular tv channel. In the tip, in a story as outdated as time, all that actually issues is what two fighters are capable of produce in the ring.
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