Round-By-Round - Isaac Chamberlain vs. Lawrence Okolie - February 3rd 2018

[jamamb]

One of the most painful fights Iv ever witnessed very harsh point deduction for chamberlain and how okolie didn't get one off sooner the way he was holding was awful, an Olympian who can't use his natural reach was painful to witness he was fighting like he was 5'6 tying him up trying to be rough inside I think chamberlain tried to work cleaner the last few rounds but was too late then was an awful fight

im hard pressed to think of another gb amateur who was/is as sloppy as okolie. i mean hes got big length for the division and some pop in that right, but he just seems so totally unschooled

[Nightmare Roy]

One of the most painful fights Iv ever witnessed very harsh point deduction for chamberlain and how okolie didn't get one off sooner the way he was holding was awful, an Olympian who can't use his natural reach was painful to witness he was fighting like he was 5'6 tying him up trying to be rough inside I think chamberlain tried to work cleaner the last few rounds but was too late then was an awful fight

i mean hes got big length for the division

[jamamb]

[Black Sam Bellamy]

Anybody go ? How many at the 02 last night ?

[dirk2686]

What a bag of mess that was !

Why didn't ref Grey say anything about Okeykokey leaning on ???

Best thing about it was Bellew backtracking in the last 2 rounds about him gassing

I think Bellew was fair in what he was saying. Chamberlain was always looking to take it into the latter rounds - and Bellew was fair enough to say Okolie didn't gas.

But yeah, terrible fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Anybody go ? How many at the 02 last night ?

Around 8,000! Decent

[dirk2686]

Anybody go ? How many at the 02 last night ?

Around 8,000! Decent

Says a lot about the difference in promoters that the Saunders Murray fight at the same venue probably won't have many more in, if any at all.

[Old Jack J]

Awful fight.

Chamberlain didn't have a plan B. Okolie used his size and power to keep chamberlain from committing to an attack. I thought it was clever that Okolie just kept leaning on him. I mean, it's terrible to watch but very effective. I remember Klitschko's doing similar and Tyson Fury literally got on top of Cunningham after the knock down and used his weight to exhaust his opponent.

Last night was less about looking good and all about the win. Okolie did that and he moves on whereas Chamberlain has to rebuild from here.

Meh, sometimes it's just not great for us fans!

[milpool]

The disappointing thing for me was the fact that here we had two novices headlining an arena show, having plenty of build up by Sky and selling over 8,000 tickets...and then they proceed to serve up that shite!!
It was fantastic for boxing in this country that a fight between two fighters with less than 20 bouts between them were given such a major platform and was promoted as a big event. Such a shame that it turned out to be one of the worst main events I've seen in a long while...

[dirk2686]

The disappointing thing for me was the fact that here we had two novices headlining an arena show, having plenty of build up by Sky and selling over 8,000 tickets...and then they proceed to serve up that shite!!
It was fantastic for boxing in this country that a fight between two fighters with less than 20 bouts between them were given such a major platform and was promoted as a big event. Such a shame that it turned out to be one of the worst main events I've seen in a long while...

Same thing happens in a lot of sports in fairness. Football matches are built up and end up 0-0 bores and suchlike.

There's not much that can be done once the fight starts, but at least the build up suggested there is still an appetite for boxing away from the megafights.

[wesshaw1985]

[Ruthless-RKO]

The disappointing thing for me was the fact that here we had two novices headlining an arena show, having plenty of build up by Sky and selling over 8,000 tickets...and then they proceed to serve up that shite!!
It was fantastic for boxing in this country that a fight between two fighters with less than 20 bouts between them were given such a major platform and was promoted as a big event. Such a shame that it turned out to be one of the worst main events I've seen in a long while...

Eddie got asked what was worst, this or Bellew-Cleverly II.. He said Bellew because it was PPV. Bellew was stood down the hallway. Then started comparing it to Bellew-Chilemba.

[Nightmare Roy]

This guy makes a good point about the pressure of headlining novices

[Grilling Machine]

Anybody go ? How many at the 02 last night ?

After seeing David Haye, most of 'em stayed in the bar.

[Now&4Ever Boxing]

I went, good night with a largely friendly atmosphere. Got told the doors opened at 17.15 and first bell at 17,30, got to our seats just past then to find we'd missed the first three fights.

Really enjoyed Cheeseman vs Jones, early contender for fight of the year I'd say.

Okolie-Chamberlain was a sad scrappy fight. Okolie looked best when he kept it long, whenever it got close Chamberlain was only too happy to duck under, the scorecards don't reflect the fight IMO not in the sense that Chamberlain ran it close, more in the sense that Okolie was, for the most part, lost for ideas on the inside.

Danny Dignum going on last to a largely empty arena was shameful. Two fights out of the whole show went the distance but the 'float' has to wait until after the main event for some reason.

[bripez]

Both boxers got some serious build up and exposure before the fight - it might be a while before they get the same again.

[leejonesjnr]

I was disappointed with the fight as I was expecting a real even, tough contest and had really been looking forward to it.
In the end I think it was far closer than the score cards show, but because both were equally inaffective.
The first knockdown didn’t really look like a punch that would cause a knockdown but I’ll have to take a second look, was it more a bundling over?
The second knockdown was a bit of bad luck that Chamberlain ended up touching down and the points deduction so early and then allowing Okolie to continue walking forward without punches, wrestling and leaning for so long before also deducting a point seemed unfair to me.
I suspect that a lot of cruisers in and around that level will now be much more confident about chasing a fight with either of them but it’s probably just a case of the styles not gelling well.
The occasion may have got to Chamberlain more than Okolie as he seemed more tense and hostile than I’ve seen him before in the build up and at the weigh in.
A shame that the contest never took off but Okolie rolls on and as Chamberlain never really went through the mill either I imagine one 6 rounder and he is back where he was.

[bripez]

I suspect that a lot of cruisers in and around that level will now be much more confident about chasing a fight with either of them but it’s probably just a case of the styles not gelling well.

It would be good to see both of them in with domestic top 10ers for their next 2 fights each - you will then be able to guage where they are at.

I suspect that they will go down the "ring somebody in from overseas to get a stoppage win" approach and we wont know any more than we do now - until they eventually step up.

[rd350lc]

Okeykokey leaning on so much was most of the problem that made it so messy .

Bad refereeing made it such a ugly spectacle imo .

[wesshaw1985]