Lawrence Okolie vs. Dilan Prasovic added to Sept.25th Joshua – Usyk card, Callum Smith possible

By Boxing News - 07/27/2021 - Comments

By William Lloyd: WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie will be defending his title against his #1 challenger Dilan Prasovic on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th on Sky Box Office at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in North London.

Former WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith is also possible for the Joshua – Usyk card in making his debut at 175 or October 9th, according to Michael Benson.

‘The Sauce Okolie (16-0, 13 KOs) will be making his first defense of his WBO cruiserweight title that he won last March in stopping Krzysztof Glowacki in the sixth round at the Wembley Arena in London.

Okolie, 28, faces his #1 ranked WBO challenger Dilian Prasovic (15-0, 12 KOs) in a potentially interesting fight. Although Prasovic, 26, is undefeated, he hasn’t fought any notable opposition during his seven-year professional career.

For example, Prasovic’s last opponent Tomislav Rudan has a record of 7-30-1. This should be an easy fight for Okolie, similar to him making a voluntary defense.

Image: Lawrence Okolie vs. Dilan Prasovic added to Sept.25th Joshua - Usyk card, Callum Smith possible

Callum Smith (27-1, 19 KOs) is coming off an embarrassingly bad performance against Canelo Alvarez last December, losing almost every round of the fight in their unification match in San Antonio, Texas.

Whatever chance that Callum had of winning the fight against Canelo, he threw it out the window with his decision to give up his height and fight with his back against the ropes for the entire contest.

We’ll never know how ‘Mundo’ Callum, 31, would have done had he stayed in the center of the ring.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t giving any hints on who Callum will be fighting on September 25th or October 9th, but it’s safe to say it won’t be a top-level 175-pounder.

This is Callum’s first fight at 175, and he’s coming off a devastatingly bad loss to Canelo. If Hearn matched Callum against a decent light heavyweight, he might lose, and his career would effectively be finished.

Callum is capable of beating these types of fighters straight away in his first fight at 175:

  • Igor Mikhalkin
  • Anthony Yarde
  • Adam Deines
  • Felix Vera
  • Ali Izmailov

Going up to 175 to try and reinvent himself is an experiment for Callum Smith, as he doesn’t know for sure how well he’ll do.

While Smith might feel better in that weight class, given that he won’t need to lose weight to get down to 168 any longer, but they hit harder at 175.

With the mistakes Smith made in his last fight against Canelo, he would be trouble if he tries the same tricks at 175. Smith isn’t a good enough fighter to rest against the ropes for an entire 12 round fight.

If Callum fights that way at 175, he’s going to get knocked out right away. That would be a disaster for Smith to lose his first fight at light heavyweight.

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It would make things abundantly clear that he will not have a future in the 175-lb weight class. Ultimately, Callum may find that out anyway.