LONDON, England – Lawrence Okolie defeated Kevin Lerena through 10 lacklustre rounds at Wembley Stadium in the co-main event on the Usyk-Dubois II undercard.
Announced scores at the end were 100-90 (twice) and 99-91 for Okolie.
Southpaw Lerena explored openings for his left hand in the first round, while Okolie was looking to invest straight rights into the South African’s body.
Referee Victor Loughlin had to break them up several times in the second. Okolie tried to get his jab going and missed with a right uppercut, although he maintained his bodywork. Lerena fired off a left hand at the bell, but Okolie was taking a lead.
Lerena was unable to get beyond the Englishman’s long arms, although the third was a closer session.
Trainer Joe Gallagher, in the 2016 Olympian’s corner, has been working with Okolie in his Manchester Champ’s Camp, and his man worked better behind hard straight shots to open the fourth.
The crowd hummed in anticipation of the main event, between heavyweight champions Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois, but Loughlin had to pull them apart again in the fourth.
The action stagnated further still in rounds five and six.
Okolie’s best work came when he was at arm’s length and he could use his longer levers but too often he was at middle ground and neither was doing enough to capture the attention of the crowd.
There was little action. Okolie was cruising and Lerena wouldn’t commit; easy to say from press row but members of the audience started to whistle in the eighth.
If it was a case of one wouldn’t and one couldn’t, Okolie was the former and Lerena the latter and it remained uneventful to the final bell.
Okolie is the WBC’s No. 1. Usyk, going into his fight with Dubois tonight is the champion, and Agit Kabayel is the WBC’s interim champion.
Hackney’s Okolie is now 22-1 (16 KOs) with his only loss coming to Chris Billam-Smith, who dethroned him for the WBO cruiserweight title before Okolie moved up and claimed a belt at bridgerweight,
The 33-year-old Lerena, 31-2 (15 KOs) and from Johannesburg, picked up his second loss having been stopped by Dubois in another football stadium not far from here. That fight was far more action-packed, with Lerena dropping an injured Dubois three times before being stopped.
