Okolie Obliterates Rozanski in Round One, Claims Bridgerweight Title
Dominant Performance
Former WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie (20-1, 14 KOs) destroyed previously unbeaten WBC Bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski (15-1, 14 KOs) by a first-round, three-knockdown obliteration on Friday night in front of an agitated-sounding crowd at the Rzeszow, Poland. The time of the stoppage was at 2:55 of round one.
Three Knockdowns, One Clear Winner
Rozanski repeatedly mentioned to the referee after the first knockdown when he’d been hit to the back of the head by the 6’5″ Okolie. It didn’t look that way to me.
I watched several times, and I saw Okolie hit Rozanski to the left side of his head with a right hand. It didn’t matter.
A Transformed Okolie
Okolie looked on another level than Rozanki from the opening seconds of the fight, and he couldn’t miss with his right hand. This was an entirely different Okolie than I’d ever seen before.
Moments into the fight, the 38-year-old Rozanski was flattened by a right hand from the 2016 Olympian Okolie. When Rozanski got back up, he staggered to the ropes, and Okolie nailed him several times, finishing with a right uppercut that put him down. This time, the referee stepped in and halted the fight.
Normally, Okolie is missing, clinching, and fumbling around. Tonight, he looked powerful with deadly accuracy, and he wasn’t holding at all. The move from cruiserweight at 200 lbs to bridgerweight at 224 made a huge difference, but Okolie also looks like he’s worked on his game and improved immensely.
Rozanski’s Untested Record Exposed
Despite having a glittering 15-0 record going into tonight’s fight, Rozanski had never been tested as a pro, and he wasn’t exactly young at 38. His best wins have come against Artur Splika and Alen Babic, who are not exactly the cream of the crop.
Okolie is expected to move up to heavyweight with the win to go after big-money fights against Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua.
There’s no point in Okolie staying at Bridgerweight because the division is barren and lifeless of popular fighters and well-paying bouts. There are even fewer opportunities for money fights at Bridgerweight than at Cruiserweight, and that’s saying a lot.
