This coming Saturday will be the start of a new chapter for Lawrence Okolie as he prepares for his heavyweight debut.
After winning world titles at cruiserweight and bridgerweight, Okolie is now looking to make an impact in boxing's most popular weight class.
When it comes to his first opponent at heavyweight, Okolie will be facing Germany's Hussein Muhamed who won his last fight by unanimous decision in May.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of Okolie vs. Muhamed.
When is Lawrence Okolie vs Hussein Muhamed ?
- Date: Saturday, December 7
- Time: 6pm GMT
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Okolie vs. Muhamed ringwalks (approx): 9pm GMT
The television broadcast will begin at 6pm GMT with the ringwalks for Okolie vs. Muhamed scheduled for 9pm GMT. As ever with live boxing events, these timings are subject to change.
What has been said?
'Muhamed is 33 years old and makes the ring walk with an impressive mark of 18-1 with 14 Ko’s. He made his pro debut in 2014 and has boxed just 71 rounds since."
"His last bout came in May with his previous fight being in November, 2022, so he took 18 months off and didn’t fight at all in 2015."
"Muhamed matches Okolie in height as he also stands 6-feet-5-inches tall but unfortunately he has an unlisted reach."
"There are also a couple of other areas where Muhamed holds his own against Okolie as he owns quite a bit of power with 77.8 per cent of his wins coming by stoppage."
"Muhamed has never fought outside of his homeland and winning a decision against Okolie isn’t realistic."
"He’ll need to come out swinging and hope he catches the new heavyweight hopeful."
"Okolie weighed about 223 lbs for his last fight so it will be interesting to see how much weight he puts on for his heavyweight debut and if he carries the same power and if his chin will hold up."
"Okolie has a habit of clinching and was deducted a point in both the fifth and seventh rounds when losing his title to Billam-Smith. Also, he was dropped in the fourth, 10th and 11th rounds in that fight."
"If Okolie can get past the first few rounds his skills should take over but this could be an early slugfest as Muhamed will let his hands fly early."
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