Lawrence Okolie Retains His WBO Title in Manchester

Plant-based boxer Lawrence Okolie is still a world champion. The Hackney fighter kept his WBO cruiserweight title at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday night, beating New Zealand's David Light by unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 119-108 and 117-110.

Light arrived as the mandatory challenger with a perfect 20-0 record, and he left with his first defeat. Okolie, fighting for the first time in more than a year and with SugarHill Steward newly in his corner, used his long reach to jab to the body and then land heavy right hands upstairs. He had Light badly shaken in the 11th round, moments after referee Bob Williams docked him a point for holding, but the challenger somehow stayed on his feet.

The champion was refreshingly honest about not getting the stoppage, telling Sky Sports:

David Light was extremely tough and he had a good tactic of moving around to his right. But, at the end of the day, there's no need to make excuses - just get better.

He also had a warning for the rest of the division: "I'll put it on the line against anyone." The win keeps him unbeaten in 19 professional fights.

Okolie stopped eating meat as an amateur, according to Great Vegan Athletes, and he has followed a plant-based diet since turning professional in 2017. He calls himself "mainly vegan", cutting out meat, fish, eggs and cow's milk, and he says it makes his weight easier to manage and gives him more energy. "I eat all the wonderful fruit and vegetables out there, rice, grains," he told Plant Based News, describing food that gives him "energy to train but then it's not as hard to process in my body." That matters in a division where every fighter has to make 200lb on the scales.

We first covered Okolie when he won the British cruiserweight title at Wembley in 2018. He then knocked out Krzysztof Glowacki to become WBO world champion and defended the belt at the O2 last year. He follows in the footsteps of vegan heavyweight David Haye, who said going vegan made him stronger than he had ever been.

No meat, no problem.