Boxing Fight: As Chris Billam-Smith defeated Lawrence Okolie in his native Bournemouth, two points were taken away and three knockdowns were awarded.
In front of 15,000 exuberant spectators at the Vitality Stadium, it was a frenzied fight with exploding punches, knockdowns, warnings, and general mayhem. Billam-Smith won by majority decision and the WBO cruiserweight world championship.
Billam-Smith and Okolie formerly shared a friendship. Given how brutal their battle turned out to be, that was difficult to believe. They had previously shared a gym, hundreds of rounds of sparring, and Shane McGuigan as a trainer.
However, Okolie put himself in Billam-Smith’s path once he migrated and left McGuigan to join the new coach SugarHill Steward.
The Bournemouth man has progressively advanced into contention, winning the cruiserweight championships that Okolie had held in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and Europe.
Billam-Smith, who enjoyed enormous popularity in his city, reserved the football team’s 15,000-seat stadium for this occasion. When Okolie made his comeback in Manchester in March, he defeated mandatory challenger David Light over the course of 12 rounds before throwing down the gauntlet and declaring that he would face Billam-Smith barely two months later.
He raised a glove to the audience as he made his way to the ring, appearing to enjoy the jeers that greeted him as he arrived.
Billam-Smith, the challenger, entered the ring first and marched solemnly without smiling. He must have enjoyed it, though, since the entire stadium erupted in applause all around him. He stood with the hood of his robe up while being engulfed in fireworks during the utterly joyful celebration.
That was nothing in comparison to the roar of the audience when Billam-Smith knocked Okolie to the ground in the fourth round with a powerful left hook.
The winner got off to a strong start and collided with Billam-Smith. They knew one other too well for a feeling-out session to be necessary.
For boxing daily live, boxing championship, boxing fight live, boxing today updates, latest boxing score, boxing tournament, all boxing score, boxing daily live updates, boxing today updates, live boxing score and other boxing news follow Livematchupdates.com.
