How to watch Lawrence Okolie vs Chris Billam-Smith
Friend or Foe? Former teammates forced to put friendship aside for fight night
BBN have provided viewers with all the details needed to tune in to watch Londoner Lawrence Okolie (19-0, 14KO) and WBO #1 Chris Billam-Smith (17-1,12KO) clash in the headlining fight of BOXXER’s Bournemouth bonanza. Betting odds: https://cryptocasinos360.com/reviews/fairspin/
All the details below:
Fight Details
Date: Saturday, May 27, 2023.
Venue: Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth.
Rounds scheduled: 12 three-minute rounds at cruiserweight (200lbs).
Titles: Okolie’s WBO World title is on the line.
Ringwalks: Ringwalks can be expected from around 10pm.
Tickets: Tickets for this event on sale at BOXXER.com starting from £40.
Undercard Highlights: More cruiserweight action as unbeaten Mikael Lawal (17-0, 11KO) defends his British belt to Isaac Chamberlain (14-2, 8KO).
Related Articles: Everything you need to know HERE
TV Coverage
Coverage starts live on Sky Sports YouTube and Facebook channels at 5pm.
Then move over to Sky Sports Action (Sky channel 407) from 7pm-11pm, or Sky Showcase (for non-Sky Sports subscribers).
At 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event (Sky channel 400) also pick up the coverage until 11pm.
Live Stream
You can watch online via the Sky Sports website
Sky Go customers are able to stream the entire fight card through their laptop or mobile device.
You can also sign up to NOW TV to access the live stream of the action. A one-day membership is available for only £11.98 and monthly memberships cost £21 per month.
You can find suitable pubs showing the event by visiting pubfinder.sky.com
BBN will be providing LIVE round-by-round results on fight night HERE
Background
Lawrence “The Sauce” Okolie heads to enemy territory to face Chris “The Gentleman” Billam-Smith in his coastal hometown.
The headlining bout on the BOXXER card will be a fourth consecutive title defence for the champion from Hackney, who is now 4-0 with 2 KOs in world title bouts.
So it may seem like a mammoth task at hand for Billam-Smith and trainer Shane McGuigan, but the local Bournemouth boxer has unlimited knowledge of the champion after sharing over 300 rounds of sparring together back when they used to be teammates, plus he has the backing of 15,000 voracious, vocal fans roaring him on.
Not only have both boxers sparred countless rounds together, but they’ve also won three of the same titles and shared two of the same opponents with the exact same result – a first round KO (Russ Henshaw) and a unanimous decision (Isaac Chamberlain).
So this exciting contest coud be very close indeed.
Full fight previewQuotes
Okolie: “I had a year out for various reasons and I came over to Boxxer to be active. I enjoy fighting against the best people. I’m not one of those fighters that talks about it, I am one of those fighters who goes out and makes it happen. My performance against David Light was me coming back after a year off. It’s a quick turnaround from what people are used to but I’ve got no injuries or damage from my last fight so why not get straight back into it and keep active.
“I know what this fight means to me and what it means to Chris… we’ve had a lot of spars, I know what this fight is going to look like. He always has action-packed fights with a lot of punches exchanged. And actually as much as I like Chris I am looking forward to being in that type of fight.
“Chris is someone who I respect as a person, I know him well, I love how he is with his family and I love him as a person. It’s unfortunate because I like Chris but ultimately he’s Commonwealth champion, former European champion, he’s highly-ranked and those are the type of fights I want to be in.”
Billam-Smith: “Obviously when you’re in the same gym, you never expected [a fight] to happen and you never expect people to leave either but obviously he’s left [McGuigan’s Gym] now and the fight can happen. I like Lawrence, he’s a funny guy, but he’s got something I want and, as always, it’s just business.
“I think we’ve sparred probably 300 rounds against each other. They were learning curves for both of us and we learned a lot as we built ourselves to world-level fighters, and that’s what makes this such an exciting fight. I think I’ve shown in my career that I’ve always tried to fight every champion there is. Lawrence is one of them and now we’re here.”
Predictions
Tim Rickson, BBN Editor: “With Okolie and Billam-Smith as former teammates and sparring partners, their knowledge of each other should create a close contest that could go a fair few rounds. Okolie has said he is prepared to spend some time breaking CBS down, so he doesn’t sound like he’s going in there for an early finish.
“Okolie’s last two contests have ended in points wins, but prior to that he KO’d seven fighters in a row. His second fight with SugarHill should yield improvements and their partnership should become stronger, so Okolie may look for that elusive stoppage that has missing for two years now.
“CBS will need to get into mid-range against his friend, but Okolie will either judge the distance well to land his long levers from range or clinch when they come in close – a tactic he is well known and criticised for.
“Despite the home advantage, I think Billam-Smith may struggle to fight his fight against such an awkward and experienced world champion, who should be able to land cleanly from range and tie him up when he needs to. I hate to say it, but watching Billam-Smith get wobbled in his last fight makes me envisage an early stoppage win for Okolie in the first half of the fight.”
Betting Odds (Betway)
2/7 Okolie
11/4 Billam-Smith
14/1 Draw
Weights
Lawrence Okolie: 14st 3 lbs
Chris Billam-Smith: 14st 3 lbs
Running Order
Main Event:
Lawrence Okolie vs Chris Billam-Smith
12×3 WBO World cruiserweight title
Isaac Chamberlain vs Daniel Bocianksi
8×3 Cruiserweight contest
Lee Cutler vs Stanley Stannard
10×3 Super-welterweight contest
Michael McKinson vs Lebin Morales
6×3 Welterweight contest
Tommy Welch vs Amine Boucetta
6×3 Heavyweight contest
Mace Ruegg vs Dean Dodge
6×3 Super-featherweight contest
Lewis Edmondson vs Petar Nosic
6×3 Light-heavyweight contest
Alireza Ghadiri vs Jonatas Rodrigo Gomes
6×3 Featherweight contest
Karriss Artingstall vs Jade Taylor
6×2 Super-featherweight contest
Lawrence Okolie vs Chris Billam-Smith fight preview
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