WBO Cruiserweight Champ Lawrence Okolie Pushed to the Cards in UD Over Cieslak
While battling in the belly of the O2 Arena located in Greenwich, London, WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence “The Sauce” Okolie (18-0, 14 KO’s) staged a successful third defense of his title. Okolie pulled this off by outclassing and ultimately outpointing the hard-charging Michal “The Gorilla” Cieslak (21-2 15 KO’s) in their prizefight.
With the decision however, the Sauce’s current seven-fight knockout streak has been brought to a close. Within that run though, obviously includes Krzysztof Glowacki, who he beat on March 20, 2021 to originally win the vacant WBO title. The loss will come as a devastating blow to the Polish Cieslak who entered the match ranked #2 (WBO). Given that he was not wiped out, it will be interesting to see how he rebounds.
ONE SPEED THE WHOLE WAY
The bout got off to an overtly ugly start as little happened outside of holding and wrestling for the opening minute. Yet, Okolie did nail Cieslak with a hard overhand right that shook and forced him to hold on. Little noteworthy action took place after the damaging blow.
The Sauce controlled the match from range over the next several rounds while mainly looking to throw his straight right a la Deontay Wilder. Offensively speaking, the slower and more rigid Cieslak had not figured out how to consistently breach Okolie’s perimeter. In the fifth, Okolie speared Cieslak with a straight right on the ear that sank him down to a knee. The Polish fighter beat the count and didn’t look too bad when he remounted his feet.
Even as the dominant ring general that he was, it was beyond evident that Lawrence Okolie wanted no parts of an inside fight. Whenever in tight, the Sauce would impersonate the lead singer in an R&B video by holding onto his Polish adversary fast and tight like he was a European video vixen. Referee Michael Alexander stopped the bout on a number of occasions to warn about the infraction.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Over the seventh and eighth rounds, Cieslak managed somewhat to inch his way back into the fight. Rather than merely accepting the clinches, now the Gorilla frequently punched with his free hand and looked for any small opening. Just as it was obvious that Okolie wanted no parts of an inside fight, he was also light on tricks or attack variations. Minus Cieslak blatantly opening up, Okolie largely just stood in front of him doing little other than bouncing on his toes.
While he fought very increasingly hard down the stretch, Cieslak’s aggression was primarily ineffective. It was still Okolie dictating the geographical terms of the battle and landing the more consistent, clean shots. Being this as it were, it was not a surprise to see that he was awarded a clean unanimous decision win to the tune of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112.
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By: Bakari Simpson
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