Okolie vs Light LIVE! Boxing fight stream, TV channel, latest updates and undercard results
Manchester will witness the return of ‘The Sauce’ tonight as Lawrence Okolie finally defends his third WBO cruiserweight world title at the AO Arena. A long 13 months have passed since we last saw the Londoner in action, followed by his career evening against Krzysztof Glowacki with an early stoppage from Dilan Prasovic and an arduous defeat to Michal Cieslak.
Since then, Okolie’s rising career has been somewhat put on hold during a bitter split from Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, so he needs a clear win tonight to reignite his attempt to unify cruiserweight before moving up to heavyweight. He now trains with Tyson Fury and SugarHill Steward and is the overwhelming favorite to defeat mandatory challenger and Commonwealth Games medalist David Light of New Zealand, who is a huge underdog despite being 20-0 unbeaten.
There’s plenty of other action to look forward to in a busy boxxer undercard, with Olympic heroes Frazer Clarke and Karriss Artingstall both embarking on their next career steps, along with a huge row between Michael Gomez Jr. and Levi Giles. Follow Okolie vs Light live below!
live updates
Olympic gold medalist Lauren Price is ringside at the AO Arena tonight in support of Partner Artingstall.
They have been dubbed boxing’s power couple.
Next, Artingstall meets Buczynski
Next up in Manchester is Karriss Artingstall.
Team GB Olympic featherweight bronze medalist from Tokyo 2020 meets Bolton’s veteran fighter Linzi Buczynski.
It is only the Macclesfield southpaw’s third professional competition after beating Marina Sakharov and Vaida Masiokaite by points last year.
Buczynski is a district champion and has just one loss on her professional record, against Jade Taylor last April.
She bounced back with back-to-back wins over Chelsey Arnell and Riya Rani.
Confident Simpson plans quick title path
Boxxer boss Ben Shalom calls Callum Simpson a sleeping giant in British boxing in his post-fight interview with Sky Sports – he has high hopes of his latest signing moving forward, and with good reason.
He says he is already at the level of Felix Cash, who went the distance with Celso Neves at Leeds in December.
Zak Chelli is another potentially great fight in the future after upsetting Anthony Sims to win it WBA Continental super middleweight title last month.
The ultra-confident Simpson wants at least English and British titles by the end of the year.
Watch: Simpson stops Neves with a brutal right hook
Simpson stops Neves in boxxer debut
On the third try, Neves tries to get back up and trade the lumbering and destructive Simpson, but that quickly proves his undoing as he takes some powerful punches at close range.
He’s dropped again by another spiteful right hook, landing flush on the chin as Neves narrowly misses with his own attempted right hook.
Neves initially gets up but the referee looks him in the eye long and hard before deciding he is unfit to continue.
Stunning by Simpson. What a statement on his boxxer debut – you’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the months to come.
Simpson vs. Neves
Simpson oozes confidence in his boxxer debut, bullying Neves and stepping forward with his hands down.
Neves tries to fight fire with fire, but this is where he really gets overwhelmed.
Two rounds firmly in the bag for the Barnsley man.
Simpson vs. Neves
Simpson comes strong from the early knockdown caused after stepping back a small step after the clinch and quickly uncorking a brutal right hook that caught Neves completely off guard.
Neves makes it to the bell at the end of a one-sided first round, but that already looks ominous.
Simpson has the edge early on in this eighth ball.
Simpson vs. Neves
Simpson, keen to impress on the big stage, raves all over Neves from the first bell and is already getting him into big trouble!
Neves is caught with a huge right hand after the clinch and falls to his knees.
This can be over really quickly…
Simpson vs. Neves
Here comes Neves, who hails from Portugal but fights in Basel, Switzerland and is a former Swiss Super Middleweight Champion.
The 32-year-old, 9-3-2 as a pro, has his work cut out against area champion Simpson, who is a popular, hard-hitting prospect and has brought plenty of South Yorkshire fans tonight for his Boxxer and Sky Sports debut.
He was keen to represent his beloved Tykes at yesterday’s explosive weigh-in. Their big League One clash with Ipswich today was postponed due to the international break which is sure to have a lot more flocking to Manchester.
Simpson vs. Neves next
Coverage of the premier televised undercard is about to begin in Manchester.
Barnsley’s 10-0 super middleweight Callum Simpson – a new signing for Ben Shalom and Boxxer – is set to take on Portugal’s Celso ‘El Fenomeno’ Neves.
There were a lot of pinpricks between these two at the Love Factory weigh-in yesterday, so it could get explosive.