Lawrence Okolie is back in a boxing ring tonight as David Light guns for his WBO cruiserweight title in Manchester.
It is only the Londoner’s third defence of the belt he claimed by stopping Krzysztof Glowacki two years ago, with an early knockout of the hopelessly overmatched Dilan Prasovic followed by an attritional points win over Michal Cieslak.
This weekend represents Okolie’s first bout for some 13 months, having been embroiled in a bitter contractual split with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing.
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He eventually joined forces with Ben Shalom and Boxxer, plus training alongside Tyson Fury with SugarHill Steward after leaving Shane McGuigan.
After a period out of the ring, ‘The Sauce’ will hope to quickly regather some momentum in his quest to unify the cruiserweight division and then move up into the heavyweight ranks.
In Light, Okolie meets an undefeated challenger who boasts 20 wins from as many professional bouts with 12 knockouts, first bursting onto the scene by winning silver in the heavyweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The New Zealander, 31, is the reigning WBO Global, International and Oriental champion at 200lbs as well as Okolie’s mandatory, having overcome a late knockdown to beat Brandon Glanton via split decision in Florida in December. Here is everything you need to know about the fight.
Okolie vs Light date, start time, venue and ring walks
Okolie vs Light takes place tonight on Saturday March 25, 2023 at the AO Arena in Manchester.
The undercard is due to begin at 7pm GMT, with main event ring walks expected at approximately 10pm.
As ever, those timings are subject to change, depending on the length of the undercard fights.
Okolie vs Light fight card/undercard in full
The vacant English super-featherweight belt is up for grabs as Michael Gomez Jr and Levi Giles face-off, while Team GB hero Frazer Clarke continues his professional journey against Bogdan Dinu after American Rydell Booker withdrew through illness.
Fellow Tokyo 2020 Olympic medalist Karriss Artingstall is also in action, along with a slew of highly-rated prospects including Callum Simpson, Aaron McKenna, Harvey Lambert and Frankie Stringer.
Lawrence Okolie vs David Light
Frazer Clarke bt Bogdan Dinu
Michael Gomez Jr bt Levi Giles
Karriss Artingstall bt Linzi Buczynskyj
Callum Simpson bt Celso Neves
Rhys Edwards bt Brian Phillips
Aaron McKenna bt Jordan Grant
Shakiel Thompson bt Robert Talarek
Harvey Lambert bt Casey Brown
How to watch Okolie vs Light
TV channel: In the UK, Okolie vs Light is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm and Sky Sports Main Event from 8pm.
Live stream: Subscribers can also catch the action live online via the Sky Go app.
Live coverage: You can follow coverage of the entire card with Standard Sport’s live fight night blog.
Okolie vs Light fight prediction
It feels very much as if Okolie needs a statement performance tonight.
After an absence of more than a year off the back of what was a pretty dreadful fight against Cieslak, all momentum has seemingly been lost in his quest to follow the likes of Oleksandr Usyk by becoming undisputed at cruiserweight.
His ugly row with Hearn has made far more headlines than his fighting prowess over recent weeks and months, with attentions now needing to turn back to the ring.
Light is hardly the sort of opponent against whom an emphatic victory would strike fear into the other champions in this class, Arsen Goulamirian, Jai Opetaia and the newly-crowned Badou Jack, but nevertheless it is much needed if he wants to secure those big unification nights.
And we think he’ll get it by virtue of an emphatic early stoppage against a huge underdog.
Okolie to win by knockout in round four.
Okolie vs Light weigh-in results
Okolie hit the scales bang on the 200lbs cruiserweight limit on Friday afternoon, towering above Light, who came in at 198.5lbs.
Okolie vs Light betting odds
Okolie to win: 1/10
Light to win: 6/1
Draw: 20/1
Okolie to win by knockout or TKO: 4/11
Okolie to win on points or by decision: 7/2
Light to win by knockout or TKO: 10/1
Light to win on points or by decision: 13/1
