Lawrence Okolie vs Michal Cieslak – Results & Post-Fight Report

Lawrence Okolie kept his WBO cruiserweight title at the O2 Arena in London, as he outscored Michal Cieslak over twelve scrappy rounds.

Okolie was making the second defence of his title that he won in March 2021, knocking out Krzysztof Glowacki in six at Wembley Arena, while Cieslak was challenging for world honours for a second time after a points defeat to Ilunga Makabu in January 2020 for the vacant WBC belt.

The contest began in busy fashion, and a big right hand from Okolie had Cieslak clinging on for dear life in the opening half of the first round. The Pole was smothering Okolie’s work and the contest became scrappy with plenty of holding, but the champion was measured in his approach. The fifth saw the breakthrough, as a chopping Okolie right hand had the challenger on the deck, but Cieslak regained his senses and beat the count. The right hand was a potent weapon for Okolie throughout, and Cieslak’s ear was bloodied, but the challenger had a better seventh round, as he started to show some ambition, but it was still scrappy, stop-start stuff, and that continued into the later rounds with the action limited. Okolie went for the stoppage in the final round, but to no avail, and the fight went to the cards.

Scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 ensured the Londoner remained champion.

In an astonishing turnaround, Jordan Gill became the new European featherweight champion in a stunning ninth round knockout win over Karim Guerfi. Gill was on the floor from a left hook in the seventh after making a decent start, and from then on he looked to be a sitting duck, never truly regaining his senses. With the fight being fought almost exclusively in Gill’s corner, under heavy pressure, he uncorked a huge counter right hook that flattened Guerfi and the Frenchman was flat on his back, with the fight waved off immediately.

Galal Yafai turned professional after leaving the amateur code with an Olympic gold medal, and his debut unvested contest saw him take on a ten round assignment, taking the vacant WBC International flyweight title with a fifth round stoppage over Carlos Vado Bautista. Yafai did as he pleased, and the Mexican took plenty of punishment, and the Birmingham man finally broke his resolve in round five, scoring a knockdown after a combination to body and head. Bautista’s corner had seen enough, and the towel wisely came in.

Anthony Fowler moved into middleweight waters, and his 160 pound debut ended in victory as he took a ten round points win against Lukasz Maciec. The Pole started brightly, then faded down the stretch, and Fowler was adjudged the winner by scores of 99-93, 99-92 and 99-91.

Fabio Wardley saw action for the first time in 2022, and the heavyweight knocked out Daniel Martz in two rounds. Martz was down in round two, and on the resumption, clubbing blows rained in and felled him for a second time, and the American was unable to beat the count.

Campbell Hatton returned to the UK after a first knockout win out in Spain, and recorded a sixth and final round stoppage here against Joe Ducker. Ducker was stunned by a right hand, and was stopped on his feet.

Demsey McKean made his UK debut, and the Australian heavyweight banked eight rounds in a points win over Ariel Esteban Bracamonte. McKean ran out a 80-72 winner on the referee’s card.

Cheavon Clarke made his professional debut, and the cruiserweight scored a second round stoppage against Croatia’s Toni Visic. Visic was down in the opener, and then couldn’t beat the count following a raking right hand from Clarke that floored him once more.

John Hedges scored his first stoppage win, as he halted Aleksander Nowalski in the fourth round of their scheduled six rounder.