LAWRENCE OKOLIE piled on the pounds to announce himself to the heavyweight division with a brutal first-round knockout.
The former WBO cruiserweight champ cleaned out woeful Hussein Muhamed with a trademark right hand.
GettyLawrence Okolie quickly dispatched Hussein Muhamed[/caption]
GettyOkolie made a blasting impression on Muhamed[/caption]
PAThe Sauce reckons he’s more ‘explosive’ now[/caption]
Six months on from his dismal title defeat to Chris Billam-Smith down at the 14st 4lbs division, The Sauce beefed right up to light up Wembley arena at his curvy NEW 18st 8lbs stature.
“I felt good,” he beamed. “That’s my second first-round KO in a row.
“Now that I’ve been putting on the weight, enjoying training camp, I can be a lot more explosive.
“It’s showing in the fights, as soon as I start hitting these guys, they start going. I’m ready for the best in the world at any weight.
“I felt super robust, super strong. I think people might have thought, ‘he weighed 200lbs last year, why’s he 260lbs now’?
“But I feel happier and natural and a lot more solid.
“You know when I was making cruiserweight because of what I had to do to make that weight I felt tired.
“But now, I just know every round I can go explosive, recover, explosive, recover. So it feels good.”
GettyHere’s how a smaller Okolie looked in losing to Chris Billam-Smith[/caption]
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Hussein arrived with a decent looking record but it was padded in Germany and he looked way out of his depth from the opening bell.
The 2016 Team GB Olympian poked and probed with his long jabs, while Muhamed did very little.
“Toward the end of the opener the visitor did decide to finally throw a shot and it was to be his undoing.
Okolie telegraphed Muhamed’s first crack at a punch and landed his own giant right hand.
Muhamed’s body folded down on itself left him in a heap.To his credit, the 18-1 plodder did climb back up to his feet and plead to be allowed to continue.
But the referee rightly waved off the contest to let Okolie start calling out far more credible opponents.
GettyMuhamed was completely outclassed[/caption]