Hearn Reveals Lawrence Okolie Contract Miscommunication, Why Okolie Is Attacking Matchroom
The conflict between WBO world cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie and Eddie Hearn/Matchroom Boxing is the subject of an ongoing legal battle that has witnessed a rare occurrence of the majority of fight fans siding with a promoter over a fighter.
Earlier this year, Okolie notoriously made vicious comparisons between Hearn and a slave trader in now-deleted social media posts which NoSmokeBoxing reported in full.
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The WBO champion has come under heavy criticism for such comments with boxing fans pointing out the job Hearn has done for Okolie including guiding him to British, Commonwealth, European and world titles in under 16 fights.
According to Hearn, BOXXER/Sky Sports approached Okolie whilst under contract and attempted to sign him in a proposal that would have made him the face of Sky Sports Boxing earning double of what he does now.
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Hearn explained to the Ball & Brawl podcast that he refused to let Okolie take the deal as he still had one fight under Matchroom. Okolie doesn’t believe that is the case and the contractual situation between him and Matchroom is currently under a ‘dispute resolution’ process.
The British promoter explained the misunderstanding to the podcast “He (Okolie) took a fight on the AJ card (Joshua vs Pulev), he was supposed to fight Glowacki. He ended up having an interim fight where it was outside of the contract – it was all agreed”
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Okolie clearly does not believe the second-round KO over Nikodem Jezewski was outside of his contract and that he should be a promotional-free agent.
The WBO ordered Okolie to defend against mandatory challenger David Light last week. Immediate purse bids, which are scheduled for Wednesday, December 14, were called due to the lack of clarity on Okolie’s promotional situation. Either way, Lawrence Okolie will be back in the ring soon.
Also Read; Shane McGuigan’s Update On His Relationship With Lawrence Okolie