โTHEREโS a noise that people make when you knock somebody out.โ
Lawrence Okolie is considering what he likes most about fighting. He reflected, โYou know the jobโs done. When youโre switched on, when you get a stoppage, when the referee jumps in or something like that, itโs not the same as when you get a clean knockout. Itโs evokes two different emotions from the fans. So when you get a stoppage, itโs loud but not as loud as a clean knockout. So I think when you get a proper knockout, itโs a great feeling because itโs job done, the fightโs over, you won.โ
He sits outside his gym, a sparse boxing club in an archway in Bethnal Green. He hasnโt linked up with a famous trainer but has turned professional under the guidanceย of Brian OโShaughnessy, a gifted coach. โYou have to trust their boxing judgement as well as their human judgement and I do with him,โ Okolie said. In fact Lawrence is sure Brian will become one of the countryโs more well known trainers as they advance together through the ranks.
Lawrence was the first of the 2016 Olympians to go professional, but joining him in the pro ranks are Joe Cordina, Josh Kelly, Antony Fowler, who makes his debut this month, with more waiting in the wings, all of whom could have an impact in the coming years.
The future for British boxing is bright. The rise of Anthony Joshua and his victory over Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium on Saturday was a showcase for the sport in this country. Now it falls to the latest generation of Olympians to follow in his footsteps. Okolie was the GB heavyweight at Rio 2016 and now a cruiserweight prospect he is represented by the Anthony Joshua Management Group. Years back before Lawrence even won a place on the GB team, he was sparring with Joshua. That in itself was a daunting experience.
Okolie recalled. โWhen I met him I was completely starstuck. Then I was extremely scared. But I wasnโt as experienced as I am now and all Iโd ever seen was him knocking everyone out. Not just as a professional, I watched him in the ABAs stop people, the World championships, I was already a big fan of his. The time I sparred with him first was before Wembley [in 2014]. I think he was going to box Matt Legg. There were three cruiserweights that were sparring him that day, it was a week before he was fighting and I remember I started looking around to try and analyse the situation and there were three cruiserweights there and Joshua, big muscled, explosive, warming up and he does a proper warm up, he doesnโt just get in the ring. You see him flexing every muscle and I remember looking over at him just warming up. The fact that it was three cruiserweights, I thought theyโd brought us here as sacrificial lambs for him to knock us out or whatever. It didnโt end up being like that, heโs very respectful when it comes to sparring, heโs about learning as opposed to blasting people out.
โI did alright so they kept asking me to come down. Thatโs how it started.โ
Perhaps Okolie could move on to heavyweight division one day. โI think I have the frame to eventually step up to heavyweight but itโs not something thatโs actively on my mind that I think about right now. I make the weight comfortably,โ he said. โI just think about being the best at whatever the weight class Iโm in and this is the weight class Iโm in at the moment.โ
He is now 2-0 as a professional and looking to progress quickly. โA lot of what helped me in the amateurs was having hard, not hard necessarily physically, but fights against good quality people. So a) it pushed me in training. If I know Iโm boxing someone whoโs not great I might do five laps just because I want to be fit. But when you know youโre boxing someone serious, you push on. I just wanted to have that kind of mentality. I know you should always push yourself,โ he said. โI donโt know whoโs going to say yes to fighting me or whatโs going to happen but my plan is definitely not [to move slowly]. I got to the Olympics for a reason. As much as I was inexperienced, I managed to go to the Olympics because I was good enough to be an Olympian. Itโs not about the number of fights, itโs about what you do in your training, what kind of fights youโve had. So I thought it would be a good step to be moved, not necessarily as fast as Lomachenko or anything like that, but not being babied basically.โ
That lack of experience could have prompted him to stay amateur. But ultimately he ruled against it. โWhat I enjoy about the professionals itโs an opportunity for your character to come out – who I am. When you have three and five rounders you find out a little bit about yourself, about what level you fight at. But I think once you get to 12 rounders, once you get tired, how do you respond when youโre tired? How do respond when you get hurt early in a fight? Do you just throw the rest of the fight away, do you keep working?โ he asked himself. โSo obviously I havenโt answered those questions to myself yet. As much as I believe Iโve got the answer I still need to go through that to find out. So thatโs the stuff that excited me about going professional, [to] show who you are as a fighter.โ