Lawrence Okolie withdrew from his heavyweight fight against Richard Riakporhe with an injury for the 5th card on Dazn in the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England. The promoters for the Cruiserweight Riakporhe (17-1, 13 COs) are now left to fight a replacement on less than a month’s notice.
Replacement hunt
The ring reports that the 32-year-old Okole was injured for training for the match with Riakporhe. Of course, there are many heavyweights that can go in to fill the place, but many of them will beat Riakporhe, which is not ideal for his promoters.
If it’s not too late, the promoters for the event should use Riakporh as the opponent Joe Joyce in the main event. They already got Philip Hrgovic As Joyce’s opponent, but it’s a terrible match for ‘The Juggernaut’. HRGOVIC has too much talent.
Riakporhe is more on Joyce’s ally and gives him a better chance to win. If the idea is to rebuild Joyce, the use of HRGOVIC is the wrong direction. I wouldn’t do it if I was his promoter.
Environmental boundaries
Okolie’s career seems to be going anywhere. He was not cut out for the heavyweight division. When he melted to Cruiserweight to fight much smaller guys, he was in the ideal situation of succeeding because of his greatest benefit in a historically poor division. But now that okolat is a heavyweight, its career situation looks outside the gloomy.
Even with the careful match done by his promoter for him, he doesn’t hit anyone well, and he will probably fall apart if he is set with a decent heavyweight. 32 is not old, but okolie does not have enough time to develop into a fighter who can compete with the lions in the division. She knocks on cruiserweight by Chris Billiam-Smith In 2023, his restrictions showed as a fighter.
Okolie should forget about fighting against heavyweight and returning to Cruiserweight. You cannot plug in ok oil with someone worth their salt on heavyweight and expect him to be the victor. He is too clumsy and uncoordinated.
Last updated on 03/13/2025
