It’s good to be home, WBO Cruiserweight champion Okolie speaks on visit to Nigeria

• To visit Delta governor next week Nigeria-born British WBO cruiserweight titleholder, Lawrence Okolie, has described his visit to his fatherland for the first time as a thing of joy.

Okolie, a native of Igbuzor, Delta State, started his boxing career in 2016, and within a short period, has won four major titles, the Commonwealth Boxing Championship, British Championship belt, European Championship and the WBO Cruiserweight title.

Okolie, who represented Great Britain at Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil, won the WBO cruiserweight title in 2021, and is looking forward to defending the belt in June this year.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos, yesterday, at an event tagged, ‘Lawrence Okolie Homecoming,’ the boxer said he was excited to meet with his native people, just as he hinted that he was preparing hard to successfully defend his title in June.

Okolie has won all of his 18 fights, with 14 of them by technical knockout (TKO) and four by decision.

“After I defend my title, I hope to move to the heavyweight category, and I am sure of bringing some changes into it (the heavyweight division),” he said.

Okolie trains under a manager, who takes care of Nigeria-British born heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua. He revealed that his title defence would come up soon after Joshua’s mega fight in Saudi Arabia.

At yesterday’s event in Lagos, Okolie’s father, Barrister Lawrence Okolie, revealed that plans were being made for the boxer to be received by Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Monday before he returns to England.

Okolie spoke on his feelings whenever he watched his son throw punches inside the ring. “I told him initially that I won’t be at the ringside to watch his fight because I always get scared of seeing him receiving those