Lawrence Okolie vs Krzysztof Glowacki Fight Preview

After a four-week break, boxing is finally back this weekend as 2016 Olympian, Lawrence Okolie, looks to claim the vacant WBO World Cruiserweight title in just his 16th fight against the experienced Krzysztof Glowacki at Wembley Arena.

Also on the card are Okolie's fellow 2016 Olympians, Anthony Fowler and Joe Cordina, with the highly-rated cruiserweight Chris Billam Smith fighting for the WBA Continental crown, and the unbeaten Mancunian prospect, Bradley Rea, taking on the hard-hitting unbeaten Lee Cutler.

In a typical 'someone's 0 has got to go' clash, Manchester's Rea takes on Bournemouth's Cutler in an enticing bout to kick off the main card.

"Sting" burst on to the scene back in 2019 on Channel 5 with a second round stoppage of the durable Paul Allison and following a points defeat over Darryl Sharp, he didn't lose a round against Pavol Garaj on the Scott Quigg Jono Carroll undercard in Manchester over a year ago, and he remains unbeaten with three stoppages from his nine fights to date.

Cutler, meanwhile, has been going about his business much more quietly on the local scene down south with four stoppages coming from his seven career victories so far with no losses or draws on his record.

There's plenty of things that make this fight look so good on paper. Firstly, both lads are unbeaten so defeat for either here will be a massive momentum shifter. Secondly, the physical attributes of both of the fighters. Rea is a much taller rangy fighter who can mix it on the inside and the outside whereas Cutler is more of a strong pressure fighter who predominantly fights on the front but does try to fight on the back foot when he needs to.

With plenty on the line for both fighters, we can see Rea establishing his jab nice and early with Cutler trying to get in to range to unleash his better work down to the body with the taller man. However, if the Mancunian can get his jab away nice and early and not just headhunt, we expect him to get Cutler out of there towards the later rounds.

Prediction: Rea to win

Moving onto one of the biggest prospects in British boxing, as the unbeaten Cordina takes on Faroukh Kourbanov in a 10-round encounter.

After turning professional at lightweight and winning the British and Commonwealth titles at the weight, the Welshman took the rather unusual decision of stepping down in weight to the 130 lbs limit of super featherweight and he made a promising debut at the weight with a unanimous decision victory over Mario Enrique Tinoco, a fighter who'd previously taken the unbeaten record of the highly rated Jordan Gill.

Anything but victory here would be a disaster for Cordina especially considering he's on the brink of mixing it at world title level in a red hot division.

Kourbanov is the much lesser known of the two and he's accumulated a record of 17 victories and two losses from his 19 bouts in the paid ranks to date. Those two losses did however come when fighting for the EBU European title against high level opponents so he's not the sort of fighter Cordina can sleep on.

Expect a dominant 10 round performance from Cordina who'll more than likely take a few rounds to get going having not been seen in the ring since November 2019 but once he shows the sheer ring generalship that he possesses over Kourbanov, he'll more than likely not lose a round and potentially look to get him out of there if the opportunity arises which will more than likely come late on in the fight.

Prediction: Cordina by Decision/Technical Decision

The hard-hitting scouser Anthony Fowler returns to the ring this action as he takes on Spain's Jorge Fortea for the WBA International Super Welterweight Title.

Fowler is currently on a four-fight win streak after suffering a points defeat to arch-rival, Scott Fitzgerald, back in March of 2019 and the 2016 Olympian looked back to his best when claiming a stoppage victory over Adam Harper at Matchroom Boxing's Fight Camp in August.

He's currently ranked with the WBA and WBO so he'll be looking to continue his momentum and aim to get himself in the top 10 with the WBA with victory here.

After campaigning at welterweight early on his career, Spaniard Fortea has amassed nine wins from his 10 bouts at super welterweight with his only defeat at 11 stone coming at the hands of Russia's unbeaten rising star, Bakhram Murtazaliev. Stylistically, he's very similar to Fowler. He's patient, works well off the back foot, and the only difference is probably that Fowler is much more confident walking down his opponents.

The fight is an interesting one. It could potentially be a banana skin for Fowler but with the carrot dangling of a potential rematch in the summer with Scott Fitzgerald, it's a fight he can't afford to lose. Fortea has been stopped once in his career but that was at welterweight however Fowler will see that and considering the Spaniard seemingly won't have the power the deter him, expect the Liverpudlian to put it all over him from the first bell and try to make a little bit of a statement.

Prediction: Fowler by KO/TKO/DQ

In a fight where he was set to clash with Deion Jumah for the British and Commonwealth Cruiserweight titles, Chris Billam Smith now takes on the hard hitting Czech Vasil Ducar for the WBA Continental Cruiserweight title.

"The Gentleman", Billam Smith has put in a couple of showreel knockouts of late with stoppage wins over Craig Glover and Nathan Thornley. Those victories did come after a controversial loss to Richard Riakporhe where many fans had him winning the fight but unfortunately, the people who mattered didn't.

He takes on the already well-travelled Vasil Ducar. Despite having only had 13 fights with nine wins, three losses and a draw coming from those, Ducar is fairly well travelled having fought in South Africa, Czech Republic, France and in the UK where he took the unbeaten record of Nick Parpa in just his second professional bout.

The scary fact about this fight? From the combined 20 victories between the pair, 18 have come by stoppage. Some stat. However, we're backing it to be left in the hands of the judges.

Billam Smith is extremely easy on the eye. He doesn't head hunt, he mixes his shots up well to the body and the head and just as importantly, he's got a heck of a chin as seen in the Riakporhe fight. Ducar is very similar however he does look for the one-punch knockout far more frequently than Billam Smith. The Bournemouth man sets up his punches much better which is why we believe he'll be the man to win this fight, most likely on points.

Do not let Ducar's record cloud your judgement of him though. This is a tough fight for Billam Smith and he could be in for a really rough night if he's not on his game.

Prediction: Billam Smith by Decision or Technical Decision

Now for the main event and what a main event it is. Lawrence Okolie taking on Krzysztof Glowacki for the vacant WBO World Cruiserweight title in just his 17th fight as a professional.

An Olympian for Great Britain at Rio back in 2016, Okolie has taken to the professional ranks like a duck to water with 16 victories coming from his first 16 with 12 coming by stoppage. It's safe to say, he's not hung about. Having beaten rival Isaac Chamberlain in just his eighth professional fight for the WBA Continental Cruiserweight title, the same title coincidentally that his stablemate Chris Billam Smith is fighting for this weekend, he's claimed stoppage wins over Luke Watkins, Nikodem Jezewski and most notably Yves Ngabu and that run has seen him force himself into a mandatory position for the WBO World title.

Glowacki, meanwhile, is by far the more experienced of the two having boxed over 130 rounds more than Okolie and been the 12 round distance four times whereas the Brit has only fought the distance once. He suffered a unanimous decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk for this belt back in 2016 and was then stopped in round three in a bizarre fight with Mairis Briedis where he was knocked out after the bell.

So, how will the fight go? Well for starters, this is a massive step up in class for Okolie. Glowacki has fought at a much higher level than "The Sauce" but this is understandable considering he'd had double the amount of fights as him.

Okolie recently teamed up with Shane McGuigan and in his last fight, you could tell the difference. He used to smother his own work a little too much but he used his range perfectly and took his time again Jezewski and eventually got him out of there.

Even though Glowacki is much better than that opponent, expect Okolie to do the same here and try to outbox him early on and then walk him on to something big in the mid-rounds. Glowacki will undoubtedly set the pace, but if the Brit manages to get him to respect his power early on which he will likely do, he should manage to get the stoppage win.

Prediction: Okolie by KO/TKO/DQ