Preview: Lawrence Okolie returns to Sky Sports against David Light

WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie (18-0-0, 14KOs) returns for his first fight in over a year against mandatory challenger David Light (20-0-0, 12KOs) on Saturday.

The fight at Manchester’s AO Arena will also mark Okolie’s return to Sky Sports after parting ways with previous promoters Matchroom Boxing, opting to sign with Ben Shalom’s BOXXER instead.

Okolie hopes to land the third successful defence of his title against the New Zealander Light before looking to unify the titles at cruiserweight.

The division continues to flourish domestically, with the likes of Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe both eyeing up world title shots this year.

Light meanwhile overcame Brandon Glanton via split-decision in December to secure his shot at Okolie and is yet to taste defeat in 20 outings.

Tempers flared at Friday’s weigh-in when Michael Gomez Jnr (18-1-0, 5KOs) shoved Levi Giles (13-0-0, 3KOs) to the floor ahead of their vacant English super-featherweight title clash.

Manchester’s Gomez Jnr previously held the Central Area belt at 130lbs while Grimsby’s Giles is contesting for his first major title.

The bad blood finally spills over 🤬

Michael Gomez Jr and Levi Giles are SO ready to go at it for the English Super Featherweight Title 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 😤#BOXXERManchester | 25.03.23 | @SkySportsBoxing @wowhydrate pic.twitter.com/FXxMNMyUiZ
— BOXXER (@boxxer) March 24, 2023

Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Frazer Clarke (5-0-0, 4KOs) takes on late replacement Bogdan Dinu (20-4-0, 16KOs) at heavyweight.

Clarke was initially set to face American Rydell Booker before the latter collapsed suddenly last week.

Dinu, who has faced the likes of Daniel Dubois and Kubrat Pulev, was drafted in during fight week for Clarke’s toughest test yet.

New BOXXER signing Callum Simpson (10-0-0, 8KOs) also appears in his first televised bout against Celso Neves (9-3-2, 2KOs) over eight rounds at super-middleweight, while Karriss Artingstall (2-0-0) faces Linzi Buczynskyj (4-1-0) over six at super-featherweight.

Simpson fights for the first time since signing with BOXXER on Saturday. *Photo by Lawrence Lustig/BOXXER.*

FULL CARD:

Lawrence Okolie vs David Light – WBO Cruiserweight title (12 x 3)
Michael Gomez Jnr vs Levi Giles – vacant English Super-Featherweight title (10 x 3)
Callum Simpson vs Celso Neves – Super-Middleweight (8 x 3)
Frazer Clarke vs Bogdan Dinu – Heavyweight (8 x 3)
Rhys Edwards vs Brian Phillips – Super-Featherweight (6 x 3)
Aaron McKenna vs TBA – Middleweight (8 x 3)
Samuel Antwi vs Omir Rodriguez – Super-Welterweight (6 x 3)
Shakiel Thompson vs Robert Talarek – Middleweight (6 x 3)
Karriss Artingstall vs Linzi Buczynskyj – Super-Featherweight (6 x 2)
Frankie Stringer vs Jakub Laskowski – Lightweight (6 x 3)
Harvey Lambert vs Casey Brown – Super-Welterweight (4 x 3)