By Elliot Foster
Lawrence Okolie made another straightforward defence of his fringe WBA belt on Saturday night.
The Hackney cruiserweight, a former Olympian who has also held the British and Commonwealth belts in the division, was in against relatively limited opposition in the shape of Tamas Lodi.
Okolie stopped Lodi inside three at the O2 Arena in London, as part of the supporting cast to Ted Cheeseman’s bid to claim European honours against super-welterweight champion Sergio Garcia.
And the 26-year-old, who advances to 11-0 with eight quick, will return to the capital on March 23 when he faces Wadi Camacho in a British and Commonwealth title unification clash at the Copper Box Arena, exclusively live on Sky Sports and DAZN.
Meanwhile, Charlie Edwards will return on the card that will feature Okolie’s clash against Camacho.
The new WBC flyweight champion, who dethroned Cristofer Rosales back in December at the O2 Arena, will face an opponent to be confirmed in his first defence, while Joshua Buatsi will meet Liam Conroy for the vacant British title at light-heavyweight.
Also on the O2 card, Felix Cash added the vacant Commonwealth middleweight strap to his collection with a quick finish against Rasheed Abolaji.
The Wokingham man took on the Nigerian and, after hitting him with a few stiff measuring jabs in the first part of the opening round, he was floored by one before eventually rising. However,
Abolaji was dropped once more and the referee had seen enough to wave off the action after less than three minutes.
With the victory, 25-year-old Cash -- who is trained by Tony Sims at the Matchroom Elite gym in Essex -- moves to 11-0 with seven quick and adds to his WBC International Silver belt.