Hussein Muhamed vs Lawrence Okolie Preview December 7th, 2024
Former WBC Bridgerweight and WBO Cruiserweight Champion Lawrence Okolie of England moves up to the heavyweight division this Saturday, December 7th to take on Hussein Muhamed of Germany. The 10-rounder from London, England can be seen live in the UK and Ireland on TNT Sports 1. Okolie suffered his lone pro defeat two fights ago, in May, 2023 when Chris Billam-Smith beat him by majority decision to take his Cruiserweight Title. He had won the vacant belt in 2021 by stopping Krzysztof Glowacki in the sixth round and then stopped Dilan Prasovic in the third round in his first defence followed by unanimous decisions over Michal Cieslak and David Light before losing to Billam-Smith. He then faced Lukasz Rozanski in May for the WBC Bridgerweight Belt and stopped him just 175 seconds. Muhamed last saw action in May as well when he beat Ali Kiydin via an eight-round unanimous decision.
Muhamed vs Okolie Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Hussein Muhamed +700
- Lawrence Okolie -1250
My Pick
Okolie of London is 31 years old and big and lanky at 6-feet-5-inches tall with a record of 20-1 with 15 Ko’s and is listed as having an 82.5-inch reach, so it’s understandable that he wants to try his luck as a heavyweight. He’s boxed 109 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017 and so far has displayed impressive power as 75 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage but has gone the distance in three of his past four fights.
He won the vacant WBA Continental Cruiserweight Title in 2018 via a 10-round unanimous decision over Isaac Chamberlain. Okolie then added the Commonwealth Crown a few months later by stopping Luke Watkins in the third round. He’s also beaten Matty Askin and Wadi Camacho to add the British Title and hoisted the European Cruiserweight Belt in October, 2019 with a seventh-round TKO of Yves Ngabu. He stepped up in class earlier in 2020 when he met Glowacki and passed the test with flying colours.
Before turning pro, Okolie enjoyed a fine amateur career and won the 2016 AIBA European Olympic Qualification Event. He boxed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he beat Igor Jakubowski of Poland and lost to Erislandy Savon of Cuba. Okolie also boxed in the World Series of Boxing in 2016 for Britain and was beaten by Erislandy Savon again.
Muhamed is 33 years old and makes the ring walk with an impressive mark of 18-1 with 14 Ko’s. He made his pro debut in 2014 and has boxed just 71 rounds since. His last bout came in May with his previous fight being in November, 2022, so he took 18 months off and didn’t fight at all in 2015. Muhamed matches Okolie in height as he also stands 6-feet-5-inches tall but unfortunately he has an unlisted reach. There are also a couple of other areas where Muhamed holds his own against Okolie as he owns quite a bit of power with 77.8 per cent of his wins coming by stoppage.
However he’s gone the distance in three of his past four victories. He’s also lost just once as a pro and that came at the hands of Zhan Kossobutskiy via a third-round KO in November, 2022 for the WBC International Heavyweight title. Muhamed also fought for the vacant WBC International Silver Heavyweight Belt in June, 2021 and took a unanimous decision but the result was changed to a no-contest when he failed a drug test. Muhamed’s biggest wins have been against Epifanio Mendoza, Denis Bakhtov and Yakup Saglam.
Prediction…
Muhamed has never fought outside of his homeland and winning a decision against Okolie isn’t realistic. He’ll need to come out swinging and hope he catches the new heavyweight hopeful. Okolie weighed about 223 lbs for his last fight so it will be interesting to see how much weight he puts on for his heavyweight debut and if he carries the same power and if his chin will hold up. Okolie has a habit of clinching and was deducted a point in both the fifth and seventh rounds when losing his title to Billam-Smith. Also, he was dropped in the fourth, 10th and 11th rounds in that fight. If Okolie can get past the first few rounds his skills should take over but this could be an early slugfest as Muhamed will let his hands fly early.
An interesting fight with Okolie having better boxing skills.
Play: Okolie -1250 @ BetOnline.ag
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Hussein Muhamed betting • Lawrence Okolie betting