Former Matchroom Boxing prodigy and current WBO world cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie says he will not lose any sleep following his public feud and demands to be released from his promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing to take up a promotional deal with Boxxer. Okolie has been selected to be the face of boxing on British broadcaster Sky Sports on a multi-year deal and will make his Boxxer debut on March 11th against David Light who featured on ProBox TV against David Glanton in December to secure his world title opportunity to face Okolie.
Legal proceedings are currently ongoing between Okolie and Matchroom Boxing and are not looking likely to be resolved in the immediate future with claims from Matchroom Chairman, Eddie Hearn, stating that the WBO cruiserweight champion has one fight left on his current agreement with Matchroom. Naturally, Okolie disputes this claim and believes he fulfilled his contractual obligations.
Okolie concludes that the separation was just business and that the numbers in regard to his Matchroom contract don't lie, Despite the current situation between Okolie and Eddie Hearn, he maintains that he is still a fan of Eddie and watches his interviews regularly.
“I realize it’s just business,” Okolie told SecondsOut.com. “The long and short of it is, you look at a contract and it tells you exactly what you need to know. Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t. Contracts don’t. It was quite straightforward on our end. Obviously on their end (Matchroom) you know there were loopholes that they wanted to try and exploit, but I understand why they did it at the time.”
“Honestly speaking, we weren’t, like, friends,” Okolie said of Hearn. “We had a good working relationship, so on fight week we would do what we do. I knew, obviously, he’s been there in every fight and he was obviously someone I didn’t speak to directly, it was more through 258 (Okolie’s then management company).
“But you know I’ve been a big fan of him and I still am. I watch his interviews. It’s like that. But it’s not like me and him ever went for dinner or he ever called me and that kind of stuff. But it was a cordial relationship. Even now we’ve spoken a few times amidst all of this stuff. Of course, there’s been frustration on my side.”
“I’m not into making mortal enemies or ‘F U’ for life,” Okolie added. “Or whatever else. It just is whatever is. I understand the decisions they made on their end and they understand the decisions I made on my end. When it’s all said and done … anyway, I’m happy, they’re happy, everybody’s good.”
