“All my current or former boxers speak well of me, only Okoli has complaints. I really liked Lawrence, but after everything he said about me, the whole relationship between us changed. He had a very good life with us, first the British title, then the European title and finally the world title. But after that, he had a grudge against me, and he claims that I envy something. What's there to be jealous of?" - said the former promoter Okoli a few weeks ago.
On Saturday evening, Okoli was on the floor three times and lost the belt to a former sparring partner Chris Billam-Smith (18-1, 12 KOs).
“Don't write him off just because of that one failure. But the truth is that Lawrence has very bad advisers. He dreamed of unifying the belts, but lost in the second fight with the new team. Of course, failures can happen at any moment, but in his case, it is obvious that someone is giving him very bad advice. Regardless, I wish him all the best,” Hearn said.