Lawrence Okolie vs David Light – Results & Post-Fight Report

Lawrence Okolie defended his WBO cruiserweight world title for a third time at the Manchester Arena in a points win against New Zealand’s David Light, but it was far from pretty viewing.

Okolie (19-0, KO14) had been involved in many a difficult watch previously, but since taking the vacant world title with a sixth round knockout of Krzysztof Glowacki in March 2021, he had been more come forward, defending by knocking out Dilan Prasovic six months later, and dropping Michel Cieslak on the way to a points win last time out. There wasnt much known about Light (20-1, KO12), but he had climbed the WBO rankings and was here on merit.

On his debut under the Boxxer banner, Okolie failed to deliver, with the fight a messy one. The visitor began cautiously and Okolie was unable to pin his man down, with Light frustrating him and having some success of his own through the first half of the fight. Okolie was winning the rounds, but there was plenty of holding and spoiling to go with it, slthough he did have his best moments in the final frames, hurting Light in the tenth and making the challanger’s legs wobble. Okolie was deducted a point for holding in the penultimate frame, but had Light hurt once more in the final round as it went to the cards.

Okolie retained by scores of 119-108, 117-110 and 116-112.

Frazer Clarke (6-0, KO5) remained unbeaten, as he forced late notice replacement Bogdan Dinu (20-5, KO16) to retire after the second round of their heavyweight meeting set for eight. The Romanian complained of damaged ribs, and the fight was called to a halt.

Fellow Olympian Karriss Artingstall (3-0, KO3) also stayed undefeated, taking her super featherweight six rounder against Linzi Buczynskij (4-2, KO0) by a 60-55 scoreline.

In what was a spicy build-up, it was Michael Gomez Jr (19-1, KO5) that took the vacant English super featherweight title, as the Manchester man finished the stronger to take a split decision win against Levi Giles (13-1, KO3). Scores of 97-94 and 97-93 were enough for Gomez, against a card of 96-95 for Giles.

Callum Simpson (11-0, KO9) continues to impress, and the super middleweight scored a third round stoppage against Celso Neves (9-4-2, KO2), who had taken Felix Cash the distance in his last outing. Neves was down twice during the contest.

In six rounders, Samuel Antwi (15-2, KO6) overcame Omir Rodriguez (13-5-1, KO6) 60-55 in their super welterweight encounter, and at super featherweight, Rhys Edwards (14-0, KO4) won by the same score against Brian Phillips (12-4, KO3).

Shakiel Thompson (10-0, KO6) came through 59-54 against Robert Talarek (27-18-3, KO18) at super middleweight, and Aaron McKenna (16-0, KO8) against Robert Grant (6-3, KO0). Frankie Stringer (5-0, KO0) had to get off the floor in the fourth to eventually come home 58-55 against Jakub Laskowski (4-23-1, KO2) at lightweight.

The sole four rounder was at super welterweight, where Harvey Lambert (2-0, KO1) won 40-37 against Casey Brown (4-2, KO0).