Former WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie 20-1 (15) has claimed his second world title in the contentious bridgerweight division with an first-round knockout of previously undefeated puncher Lukasz Rozanski 15-1 (14) to claim the WBC belt at the Hala na Podpromiu in Rzeszow, Poland on Friday night.
It was a one-sided drubbing for the 38-year-old Rozanski. The Polish boxer had never been beyond the fourth round and the fight always promised to be a shootout. It proved to be just that.
Unfortunately for Rozanski, he never got the chance to let his bombs go. Okolie got there first with a counter right hand that dropped the hometown hero.
Rozanski was quick to his feet only to be met with another right that detonated on his chin. Down he went again.
He beat the count, but the writing was on the wall. Okolie bludgeoned him around the ring, hitting him with more right hands until he fell again.
Referee Daniel Van de Wiele waved off the contest at the 2:55 mark of the opening round.
“I think this was the best moment in boxing for me, I’m super happy,” said 31-year-old English Olympian Okolie.
“New weight, I put the KO back in Okolie, I said I was going to go in there from round one and try to get the knockout and I went in there and done that.”
No-one would be happier about the result than new coach Joe Gallagher, who trained him up to have a killer’s approach.
“I’ve told Lawrence he needs to knock him out. I’ve said to him since day one that if he thinks he’s going to go over there and win on points he’s absolutely mad,” Gallagher told Fightnews ahead of the bout.
“That’s just not how it’s going to be. There’s going to be a hostile crowd. He’s got to look to knock him out in round one or two, even ten or eleven but he can’t let it go to points.
“We’re going over there to get the knockout. He’s got to go in there like Emanuel Steward and that Kronk style. He’s not going to get any favours. It’ll be hostile. He has to upset him any way he can.
“He’s got to be like [Marvin] Hagler when he came to Britain to face [Brian] Minter. He’s got to do an absolute number on him and have the plane running ready to bring the belt back to England.”
After the fight Gallagher outlined their future plans, including an eventual move to heavyweight.
“I’d like to see a unification, there’s a WBA unification fight there,” he said.
“There are smaller heavyweights there like Deontay Wilder, Lawrence is at those kind of weights.
“It’s got to be a natural progression but I’d like to see him unify this first.
“He’s full of energy, he can come back into the gym on Monday.”
