Lawrence Okolie aims to show in his next world title defence that the entire cruiserweight division will not be able to compete with him.
‘The Sauce’ defends his WBO world title against Michal Cieslak at the O2 Arena, live on DAZN this Sunday. The challenger faced Illunga Makabu for the vacant WBC strap two years but came up short despite a good effort. And while promoter Eddie Hearn has talked up the Pole as being a legitimate threat to Okolie the champion plans on demonstrating the size of the task at hand for Cieslak.
“If we get on the inside [I’ll] get extremely physical with him,” Okolie told the Betfred Lightweight Boxing Show.
“Immediately allow him to understand he’s in there with a champion and as much as everyone has talked about how stiff a competition, he is I am obviously going to be the most dangerous person he’s got in the ring with. The most athletic, the most experienced maybe outside of Makabu but I’d knock Makabu out. So, I’ll be the best person he’s ever been in the ring with, so it’ll be good for him to experience that.”
Sunday’s DAZN broadcast will feature IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis as the special guest. Okolie is keen to unify the division before moving to heavyweight and revealed he has been in contact with the Latvian who had recently been chasing a fight with YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul.
“I’ve messaged him privately through DMs, sent him some voice notes trying to get his mind back on the fact he’s a boxing champion and not a clout chaser,” said Okolie. “I wanted to meet him a few times, but it never happened, so it’ll be good to see him champion to champion.
“I’ll show on Sunday that these cruiserweights physically just can’t deal with me, it’s impossible,” he added.
“As we get into the rounds they break. I don’t care how hard they train they just break. If I’m able to do what I envision I’ll go and break another champion and I’ll see if the heavyweights break as well.”
Click here to watch the latest episode of the Betfred Lightweight Boxing Show in full hosted by Dominic McGuinness and former world lightweight champion Anthony Crolla.