Lawrence Okolie has dreamed of becoming a world champion many times. The vision his mind, though, always had him celebrating in front of a big crowd. If he gets his chance this year, the reality may be very different.

Okolie is due to face Krzysztof Glowacki for the vacant WBO cruiserweight title. The deal was done and Okolie expected the fight to happen on one of the big summer pay-per-view bills. Now there is a very real chance there might be no fans in attendance.

“It’s not how imagined it,” Okolie said. “I imagined the jubilation after I got the KO. Now when I get a KO it will just be one person saying ‘well done Lawrence’, as opposed to the roar as it normally is, which is sweeter.

“If that is what needed to be done for safety and it financially made sense, then of course I’d do it. It is hard, though, because you won’t get friends and family there when it has finished and sometimes you need the buzz of the crowd as that is what gets you through.”

Up until mid-March, when the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world, everything had been on track. Okolie was in training camp at the University of Kent with Shane McGuigan, working alongside Luke Campbell who was just weeks away from a WBC lightweight title fight with Javier Fortuna.

Okolie trained right up until the day the lockdown was announced by the UK Government. Now he has to sit and wait for more news. There is talk of boxing returning in July and Okolie-Glowacki would be one fight that could comfortably headline one of Eddie Hearn’s planned back-garden shows. But Okolie will not be rushed into a fight he is not ready for.

“I was training until the day when we were told we couldn’t go to the gym anymore,” he said. “It’s just about staying in some kind of shape at the moment. You are not sparring of hitting pads, so you do what you can. As soon as it is possible, I will get back to work.

“Eddie said stay focused and maintain, nothing too crazy. But there is no way I will be taking the fight if I am half ready and just chance it.

“This is all or nothing, I have been training my whole life for this first opportunity, so when I get it, I will make sure I take it.

“It’s the world title, it’s not my first fight, this is the pinnacle of the sport.”

Okolie, 27, last boxed in October when he took the European title from Yves Ngabu and while this is already his biggest break from the ring since he returned at the Rio Olympics, he is aware that Glowacki has been out of the ring for longer, since he lost in controversial fashion to Mairis Breidis in the World Boxing Super Series, when he was elbowed and knocked down after the bell.

“I am staying in some sort of shape but my opponent is in the same position, he hasn’t fought since June last year,” Okolie said. “The last time he was in the ring he was stopped and now he is getting in again with a big puncher, so we will see how that translates.

“This is his last opportunity. In his mind he is an experienced fighter and I haven’t boxed a world champion before, so he might see me as a soft touch. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was favourite. His only defeats were Oleksandr Usyk and Briedis and I think Briedis should have been disqualified.  That mishap has led to me fighting for a world title.

“I don’t take anything away from him as a fighter, he is very good, but that last fight must have been tough for him. I think I will stop him, legitimately.

“There is so much more to come from me. I have to pinch myself sometimes when I think I am fighting for a world title, but no one has seen the best of me yet.”

Okolie has kept busy for much of the lockdown, renovating his mother’s house with his brother, even learning how to relay flooring after watching videos on YouTube.

“Ripping it out is the easy part, putting it back is more difficult,” he said. “I helped my mum buy the home now helping her renovate. It has given me a real sense of pride.” 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.