Last night at the 02 Arena in London, two unbeaten British cruiserweights went head-to-head in the main fight of Eddie Hearn?s latest promotion.
The two fighters being Lawrence Okolie and Isaac Chamberlain.
The build up to the fight had been quite entertaining, sadly the action in the ring was a bit of a let-down, or as the world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, sitting ringside remarked, it lacked finesse.
In what turned into a messy one-sided fight, the three scoring judges gave the verdict to Okolie, with the points decisions being announced as;
? 98 ? 89
? 96 ? 90
? 87 ? 89
All in favour of Okolie.
Okolie used his physical advantage to dominate Lawrence to take the decision and had Chamberlain on the floor on two occasions.
The first occasion came in the first round when Chamberlain was caught with a glancing blow that seriously troubled him.
The second occasion came in the sixth round when a left-hand caught Chamberlain on the side of the head, causing the fighter to momentarily touch the canvas.
But, too often, the clash of styles made it a messy unentertaining affair and it was summed up when the referee, Steve Gray, called both fighters together to as for a little more in the way of Queensbury rules rather than the WWE.
The win took Okolie?s record to eight wins from eight fights and after the bout he had this to say about the fight,
‘Isaac is a good fighter and tested me in a different way.
‘It’s good as a benchmark. I have nothing but respect for him for his mental fortitude.
‘I said in the build-up that he would find it hard to work up close with someone as strong as me.’
As for Chamberlain, it?s time to go away and rebuild a career that could still deliver something special.
Okolie Beats Chamberlain on Points
