Okolie snatches European cruiserweight title from Ngabu with cracking right hook

LAWRENCE OKOLIE snatched the European cruiserweight title with a trademark cracker of a right hand. Belgian Mike Tyson-wannabe Yves Ngabu travelled down to the O2 from his Sheffield training base vowing to cut down the 6ft 5in Hackney prospect. But after an ugly clash with too much wrestling, Okolie landed a sensational right hand in […]

LAWRENCE OKOLIE snatched the European cruiserweight title with a trademark cracker of a right hand.

Belgian Mike Tyson-wannabe Yves Ngabu travelled down to the O2 from his Sheffield training base vowing to cut down the 6ft 5in Hackney prospect.

Reuters

But after an ugly clash with too much wrestling, Okolie landed a sensational right hand in the seventh that sent Ngabu’s legs into spasm got the fight rightly called off.

The 2012 Olympian nicknamed The Sauce said: “It was hard because he was short and stocky but I heard him getting more and more tired.

“If I hit any cruiserweight on the chin, they’re going to go.”

Okolie told SunSport in the build-up he intended to use his huge height and reach advantages to slice the champion apart from distance and he was true to his word.

The Hackney 26-year-old liked to hold his gangly left arm out at full stretch and whip right hooks in Ngabu’s body when the openings appeared.

The second round was a scrappy affair as Ngabu realised ducking under Okolie’s jab and attacking him in the inside was far easier said than done.

The challenger connected with a couple of big right hands but his fans and corner warned him to take his time and not rush in and smother his early impressive work.

Okolie fans were hoping his new relationship with trainer Shane McGuigan would improve his jab but by the fourth the essential punch was severely lacking from his arsenal.

A better cruiserweight than Ngabu, who arrived with a 20-0 record, will punish the former McDonald’s worker but the closest he came was a short hook in the fifth that looked good but failed to wobble the Englishman.

Instead Okolie caught Ngabu with his overused right hand and robbed him of all of his senses, turning his legs to jelly and leaving him totally defenceless.

Backed up against the ropes and in danger of serious harm, Ngabu was saved by rapid referee Jean-Robert Laine who dived in to preserve his safety.

News Group Newspapers Ltd