Lawrence Okolie has promised a destructive performance when he enters the ring for his first-ever world title fight on Saturday night.
The undefeated knockout artist will finally get his hands on Krzysztof Glowacki as the pair go toe-to-toe in a behind closed doors bout at Wembley Arena for the vacant WBO cruiserweight belt.
It brings an end to an arduous process for Okolie, who was originally set to fight Glowacki prior to the outbreak of coronavirus before their rescheduled clash on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s title defence against Kubrat Pulev was called off at the last minute, after his opponent tested positive for the virus.
Okolie now has the chance to finally claim the prestigious belt, though Glowacki, a former world champion, resembles a significant step up in competition.
Regardless, the 6ft 5in cruiserweight giant insists he is prepared for whatever comes his way.
‘I feel good,’ Okolie told Sportsmail. ‘I’m fit, strong and I’m in a really good place mentally. I’m ready to have a fight.
‘My preparation has gone well. It’s really just been the same as usual: running, doing weights – I feel really good.’
Coming into a fight of such magnitude, the 28-year-old recognises it’s the result, rather than the performance, that is ultimately paramount.
However, after extending his knockout streak to five on the bounce with a devastating performance against Nikodem Jezewski in December, ‘The Sauce’ has no intention of letting his run come to an end.
‘Any victory will do, but the plan is to win by knockout,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to do anything stupid, but my fight style will definitely match the words that I’m saying.’
Okolie now stands on the precipice of his greatest achievement in boxing to date, but remarkably the opportunity comes in only his 16th professional fight.
With victory, he would equal his long-term sparring partner and now manager Anthony Joshua, who also won his first world title in his 16th fight, when he knocked out Charles Martin in two rounds back in 2016.
Astonishingly, when Joshua – who is only three years Okolie’s senior – was winning Olympic gold at the London Games in 2012, Okolie was working at McDonald’s and weighed 19 stone.
Okolie himself went on to reach the last-16 at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 just three years after taking up the sport, and though he acknowledges his swift but gruelling journey will intensify the rewards of winning a world title, he insists Saturday is most certainly not the end of the road.
‘I’ve done what needs to be done,’ he said. ‘I’ve made sacrifices, changed my whole mindset and way of thinking and living.
‘It’s obviously going to make it sweeter, but I’ve still got so much left for me in the game, so I don’t think like that.
‘I’ve always set my goals as being a world champion and I’ve got so much in this sport that I want to achieve.
‘I’m looking to win on Saturday and then go straight into a unification fight, that’s just where I’m at mentally.’
Okolie does currently have an invested interest in the heavyweight division, however, with Eddie Hearn this week announcing that Joshua and Tyson Fury have agreed a £200million two-fight deal.
Okolie, who has sparred both fighters, was thoroughly impressed by both Fury’s stunning knockout win over Deontay Wilder and Joshua’s methodical breakdown of Kubrat Pulev.
‘It’s one of the biggest fights of our generation, so I’m very excited,’ he said.
‘Fury’s win over Wilder will go down in history. He beat an undefeated fighter, who is probably one of the hardest punchers we’ve ever seen in the heavyweight division.
‘And Joshua really showed his boxing IQ (in his win over Pulev).’
However, when it came to picking a winner, it required little thinking for the Hackney fighter.
‘I believe AJ is going to win,’ he said. ‘It’s not an easy fight, but it’s his physical strength and explosiveness.
‘With Wilder, Fury was able to manhandle him as he weighed so much more and he’s so much more talented as a boxer.
‘But with AJ, he’s got really good fundamentals and boxing IQ and he knows how to set his shots up. AJ’s going to be a bit too switched on and bullish for him. I think he’ll get to him.’
