Lawrence Okolie Says his Matchroom Contract is Over
In boxing, the line between friends and enemies is thin whenever money is involved. This explains the situation between Matchroom Boxing and WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence “The Sauce” Okolie (18-0, 14KO).
Things between the two parties have fell apart faster than ice cubes in a volcano. Their dispute became very public and grew more intense when the WBO Championship Committee ordered the champion to start negotiations with mandatory challenger David Light.
OKOLIE DISPUTES OWING MATCHROOM BOXING ANYTHING
Matchroom Boxing’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has stated that the WBO champion is contractually obligated to one more fight. During an interview with iFL TV, Okolie opened up about how Matchroom Boxing is trying to say a replacement fight in 2020 was not part of the deal.
“Contracts go for a period of time and a period of fights. That extra fight, that they call it, was never explained to me, nor I never signed it, ever. It was never brought to my attention until when my contract came to an end.”
“Bear in mind, my contract ended in May. We negotiated for two months after that when everyone accepted the contract was over. As soon as we couldn’t get anywhere and I said, ‘okay, well, I’m going to go and get other deals’. They just sort of started trying to find loopholes and everything . . . now we get to this point here, and it transpires that there is no more fight.”
Okolie explained that while the whole narrative of being obligated to one more fight was circulating, he was advised not to speak on the situation.
“It’s a narrative that’s been spun, and I’ve also been told, ‘you can’t talk about it’. So, it’s like the narrative is going . . . it’s just not true. So that is where we are at right now.”
By: Bo Bland
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