Lawrence Okolie “The Sauce” from Hackney, London makes the second defence of his WBO cruiserweight belt against the No 2 rated Michal Cieslak of Poland at the 02 Arena in London on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Okolie has an outstanding record of 17-0; 14 with an 82.35 per cent knockout ratio and has never really been extended in his professional career since making his debut in March 2017.
Only three of his fights have gone the distance and he has won the British, Commonwealth and European titles before winning the vacant WBO belt on 20 March 2021 with a sixth-round knockout win over Krzysztof Glowacki.
He then made a successful defence against Dilan Prasovic on 25 September last year, winning on a third-round knockout.
Okolie was an outstanding amateur despite having his first fight at the age of seventeen and represented England at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The 32-year-old challenger Cieslak 21-1; 15 suffered his only defeat against Ilunga Makabu in January 2020 in a clash for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title.
After this setback he has scored wins against Taylor Mabika (ko 6) and Yury Kashinsky (tko 1).
Cieslak is a good technical fighter and could extend the champion.
The other main organisation champions are, WBA “super” Arsen Goulamirian, WBA “secondary” Ryhad Merhy, WBC, Ilunga Makabu and IBF, Marais Breidis.
