Lawrence Okolie vs Tony Yoka

For someone with a gold medal-winning Olympic pedigree, it’s astounding that Tony Yoka has fallen to fringe world-class contenders and then had to go back to the drawing board to get this chance against Lawrence Okolie. Even when watching him lose to Martin Bakole, his jab was a thing of beauty, landing regularly on target, yet Bakole was able to walk through him, walk him down, keep him under heavy fire. Although the Frenchman fired back, it was one-way traffic. With 12 KOs in 15 wins, you’d think that the Frenchman has decent power, but I fear this is where he struggles against the better opposition, who are used to dealing with decent punchers. I have to say Lawrence Okolie has never particularly impressed me as someone to watch, but he gets the job done. He’s big, he’s strong, he knows his way around a boxing ring, and he’s as awkward as hell. My concern is that this becomes a borefest. But the transition over to Joe Gallagher’s gym might just be what Okolie needed. One way or the other, I have to go with the Englishman to upset the Frenchman on home soil with a points win.