Stoke Newington cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie is looking forward to a nice break after his latest quickfire win, before returning to the ring in September, writes Ken Sellek.
Okolie blasted out another opponent inside the first round at Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom promotion at the O2 Arena at the weekend, with Russ Henshaw becoming his fourth victim in the professional ranks.
The Hackney fighter came forward throwing left jabs, then as Henshaw looked to rally, landed a combination of a left, followed by a right hook to the body to drop his rival.
It was not long before Henshaw was down again from another right hook to the body, but he somehow managed to get to his feet before taking two more head shots.
That forced referee Chas Coakley to call the fight off after two minutes and 10 seconds, which means Okolie has spent less than seven minutes in the ring as a professional so far.
He said: “My trainer Brian O’Shaughnessy has been working on my body punches as my first three opponents were stopped with head punches.
“I am looking forward to going away on holiday with my mum and sister and hope to be back in the ring in September.”
Stoke Newington welterweights Larry Ekundayo and Erick Ochieng have fights lined up at different venues this weekend.
Former Prizefighter winner Ekundayo takes on Wembley’s Gary Corcoran at the Copper Box Arena on a Queensberry Promotion, looking to extend his record of 12 unbeaten fights.
Corcoran has lost just once in 16 outings, when challenging for the British welterweight title against Welshman Liam Williams in Cardiff, in one of the fights of the year.
Meanwhile, Ochieng is set to appear on the Goodwin promotion at Bethnal Green’s York Hall on Sunday, when he takes on Islington rival Freddie Kiwitt for the vacant Southern Area title.
Former English super-welterweight champion Ochieng defended his title four times before vacating to fight for the British belt, when he lost a close fight to Liverpool’s Liam Smith.
Also featuring on the York Hall bill is former Lion amateur Justin Menzie against Diego Burton, while former Lion bantamweight Sam Cox makes his professional debut against Sheffield’s Anwar Alfaldi at the same venue but a day earlier on the Jack Green Champs promotion.
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