Lawrence Okolie Wins the British Cruiserweight Title at Wembley

Plant-based cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie is the new British champion. The 25-year-old from Hackney beat Matty Askin on a unanimous decision at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, on the undercard of Anthony Joshua against Alexander Povetkin, with scores of 116-110, 114-112 and 114-113.

It wasn't pretty. Referee Victor Loughlin docked Okolie three points, for use of the head in the fifth and for holding in the eighth and 11th, but the Olympian was still landing the cleaner punches. It is his 10th straight win as a pro, and he has collected the Commonwealth and British titles inside his first 10 fights.

Okolie was the first to admit it was not his best night. Hours after the fight he posted on Twitter:

Winnings always good but winning well is better, that was not won well, I'll go back to the drawing board and work on what needs doing. Because I wanna feel pride in not just my achievements but my performance. Won't lie, I'm back in the gym ASAP.

Okolie stopped eating meat soon after turning professional, when he took charge of his own nutrition, and says he has not missed it. "I don't eat meat, fish, eggs or cow's milk," he told Sky Sports. "I eat all the wonderful fruit and vegetables out there, rice grains, basically stuff that gives me energy to train but then it's not as hard to process in my body." He says the fatigue he felt when he ate meat was big, and that he only misses it at Christmas. "I've still been able to knock people out so I'm not missing anything from it."

He follows a long line of plant-powered boxers. We've covered former world heavyweight champion David Haye, who says going vegan made him stronger than ever, and last month American heavyweight Bryant Jennings stopped Dimitrenko to win the IBF International title.

New British champion. No meat required.