Hackney’s Lawrence Okolie issued a stern warning to his rivals to not judge him on Saturday’s performance after retaining his WBO world cruiserweight title last Saturday at Manchester's AO Arena.
In his first outing since defeating Poland’s Michal Cieslak 14 months ago at The O2 Arena in North Greenwich, the 30-year-old returned to the ring along with new trainer the well-respected American SugarHill to grind out a unanimous 12-round points decision (119-108, 117-110, and 116-112) over the very game New Zealand challenger David Light.
It was Okolie's first contest under new promoter Ben Shalom who runs Altrincham-based BOXXER after ending a six-year association with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
Okolie advanced his unbeaten record to 19 bouts but acknowledged in his post-fight comments that the performance was not up to his usual high standard due to his inactivity.
He also praised the effort made by Light, 31, a silver medalist in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games heavyweight boxing competition, who was unbeaten in 20 outings.
"I wasn't sure if I'd thought a bit of ring rust but I definitely did,” Okolie told Sky Sports.
"David Light was extremely tough and he had a good tactic of moving around to his right, taking away my right hand that he’s already got inside, so he really went to work.
“It was hard for me to shake it off because obviously after a year out of the ring I’m trying to get myself pumped and going but it’s tough. At the end of the day I’m not here to make excuses I’m here to get better.
"I always believe seven to nine of my rounds to get people out. I think that’s when I started hurting him. He was dancing around the ring but I couldn’t get the last shot in to drop him and get him out of there because he was very tough and very good with his hand defences.
"As I said with the time out of the ring it was tough to really get my timing.”
British champion Richard Riakporhe, 32, and Chris Billam-Smith, 31, who is set to defend his European or Commonwealth crowns at his beloved AFC Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium on May 27, are both keen to get a shot at fellow stablemate Okolie.
However, Okolie has his own desire of becoming a unified world champion and will be chasing fellow world title holders Arsen Goulamirian (WBA), Badou Jack (WBC) and Australia's Jai Opetaia (IBF).
Okolie’s rivals may have not been too impressed by what they witnessed in Manchester on Saturday evening but the Hackney man added: “I will go into the ring and fight anyone.
"If they watch me and think Lawrence is rubbish and I can do this and that then come and find out. There's no point talking from outside of the ring.
"I’ll put in on the line against anyone. And if they are good enough to beat me then they are but if not I'll carry on winning."
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