Home Boxing News Lawrence Okolie spars Tsyon Fury, says David Light is “delusional”

Lawrence Okolie spars Tsyon Fury, says David Light is “delusional”

Lawrence Okolie

WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence ‘The Sauce’ Okolie 18-0 (14) has rounded out his training camp with a light workout with reigning WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 33-0-1 (24) last week.

The 30-year-old Brit will make the third defence of the world title he won against Krzysztof Glowacki 32-4 (20) two years ago when he takes on New Zealand’s David ‘The Great White’ Light 20-0 (12) at the AO Arena in Manchester, England on Saturday night.

“I did a little move-around with Tyson on Friday, nothing that crazy, just a little body spar,” Okolie said to The Mirror. “But it’s good to see with one of the biggest heavyweights what that is like. With Tyson, it’s very much like he’s constantly thinking. He knows how to use his height, reach and weight all in different parts of the ring.

“I won’t go into the intricacies but you can feel it and he’s good enough to talk me through what he is doing. It’s like he says, ‘I’ve got you here’, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this doesn’t feel nice. Okay, I’m going to try that’. He’s very technically sound. I’m not talking about throwing a one-two correctly, it’s about tactically and positionally in terms of actually winning a boxing match, he has all these skills and they show.”

Okolie says he is unfazed by Light’s undefeated record, labelling the Kiwi “delusional”.

“He’s 20-0 so he’ll obviously be coming with that confidence and belief. But it’s almost delusion, actually, from him and his camp, some of the stuff they have been saying,” Okolie said.

“That lets me know their mindset and sometimes deluded people can cause problems because they don’t understand how things are supposed to go, so you have to teach them. He’s a grown man and he has been boxing for a long time, but they say stuff that to me sounds so stupid, like ‘No one has tried [this or that against Okolie]’.

“It’s like, people have tried before him knowing this is their world title shot. For the last four years plus every fight has meant something to the other person as well as me, they’ve come to win because they know it could be life changing. But then when they come and stand in front of me they realise it’s not their time, so I have to teach David it’s not his.”

Light, 31, is coming off a split decision win over American Brandon Glanton 17-2 (14) in December.

“I meet people and I have to explain to them and like really convince them that I’m a professional boxer, they just don’t think that that’s what I am,” Light said to Sky Sports.

“People are always writing me off. Something that I’ve really started to enjoy is proving people wrong.

“It was the same thing [with Glanton]. I came in as the underdog. I was really the underdog. Real credit to the judging of the WBO, they saw it the way I thought it was and gave me the win. I was really stoked for that.

“We’ve had our eye on Okolie for a few years. We knew this was happening and we’ve been preparing for it for a few years now. I’ve known that this is what it was going to be.

“[Okolie] got bits that he can be exploited too. He’s obviously got a massive right hand, he’s got the height and he uses his height. He can avoid danger in that way.”

The 6-foot-4 Okolie is already looking ahead, with plans to unify the 200-pound division before heading north to heavyweight.

“I would really like to unify the cruiserweight division before I step up but it really depends on Friday where I am with the weight,” he said.

“Once I have made the weight for this fight I will let people know. If I feel anything other than amazing on Saturday it will be time to move on, but I don’t envision that being the case with this fight.

“As soon as it becomes too much of a drag, if I have to diet for too long or I have to sweat it out for too long, it’s boring, I don’t like that side of boxing, I like the fighting so I’ll move on.”

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