Lawrence Okolie and Matty Askin produce a dud in Wembley
A highly anticipated fight on paper turned out to be a very uneventful match-up. Lots of holding, repositioning, missed shots and more holding. The referee produced more action than the fighters did.
Askin had trouble getting inside of his opponent’s long reaching jab. In the process, he would bulldoze his way inside which would cause him to smother his punches and initiate holding.
For Okolie he would continue to look to reposition himself on the inside which would cause him to swing his head wildly. He lost a point in the fifth round after repeated warnings of using his head.
By the sixth round, Askin started to do less holding while Okolie started to do more. It seemed as being the busier fighter caused him to fade and give into Askin’s type of fight. If the 25 year-old threw a shot and missed, he immediately stepped in and wrapped up his opponent.
In round eight, the referee had seen enough and deducted another point from the younger fighter for holding. Three rounds later, he lost another point for the same infraction.
Although this fight could cause one to become narcoleptic, Okolie clearly had the better work rate. It’s actually difficult to pin-point when Askin landed a damaging punch.
The new British cruiserweight champion improves to 10-0, with 7 knockouts. He more than likely will want to return as soon as possible to redeem himself of this performance.
By: EJ Williams
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