Lawrence Okolie is not impressed with Mairis Briedis attempts to land a fight with Jake Paul.
The Latvian has taken to social media recently to embark on a mini campaign centred around calling out the brash YouTube star for a fight. And the IBF cruiserweight champion has even went to the length of getting a tattoo of Paul’s name on his leg!
While Paul has donned the gloves since January 2020 notching up five wins on the spin, albeit against underwhelming opposition, Okolie says what Briedis is doing is embarrassing.
“I personally think it’s a fake tattoo. Even if it is a fake tattoo, it’s a bit of a shame,” the unbeaten WBO champion told Boxing Social’s Rob Tebbutt.
“A professional boxing world champion feels the needs to get a tattoo real or fake calling out a YouTuber,” he added. “Even if he’s considered a fighter now, he’s had fights against journeymen level opposition and you’re calling him out. Whatever your reasons, the reasons that he’ll profess, cleaning up the sport or whatever else it’s embarrassing to be quite honest. He’s a great fighter. It’s just sad.”
To watch the interview in full and hear what Okolie thinks of his next opponent Michal Cieslak as well as his thoughts on Usyk v Joshua, click here.