Chris Billiam-Smith gets the decision win over Lawrence Okolie, in what was a torrid and rugged affair; involving a lot of clinching from Okolie, in an attempt to stifle the work of Billam-Smith.
This was an ugly fight, which I had anticipated; however, I must add that I got my prediction wrong in this match, as I anticipated a late-stoppage win for Okolie over Billam-Smith.
Billam-Smith had scored 3 knockdowns in total (though I personally think two of these were either slips or pushes), Okolie suffered two point-deductions, due to excessive clinching and even pushing in the clinch and occasional use of the shoulder.
Okolie’s defence was incredibly sloppy; arguably, the clinching served as a defence for him to prevent Chris Billam-Smith from working.
Okolie was over-committing with the right-hand; his timing and accuracy was off, and simply wasn’t able to find the punch to stop the fight. Okolie had shown more aggression in the later stage of the fight, after suffering a second point deduction; arguably, this was to help Okolie make the case that he was trying to fight his opponent and to keep the referee off of him for a moment, to not risk a potential dis-qualification.
Finally, congratulations to Chris Billam-Smith, as he is now a total-holder; he now holds the WBO cruiserweight title, Okolie will likely be looking at a rematch, though I’m sure this fight would have left a sour-taste in the mouth for the majority of its viewers.
