Hugh Wade-Jones, the managing director of Enness Global the high net worth mortgage and property development finance broker, talks with Lawrence Okolie, Cruiserweight World Champion, Olympian, Author & Rapper.
Hugh Wade-Jones
Lawrence Okolie, Cruiserweight World Champion, a fellow watch lover, thank you very much for your time. The last 12 months been fairly unusual, very good, fairly life changing for yourself. How have you found it? How have you dealt with it professionally and on a personal level as well?
Lawrence Okolie
I think lockdown was a hard time for everyone. For me, my priorities changed. Before lockdown I would spend a lot of money on designer clothes and a lot of other stuff, but I didn't have gym in my house, or a boxing bag. So when COVID happened, I realised I've got nowhere to train. So that allowed me to get my mind on it, get some stuff put in my house now I’ve got a gym and everything like that. So that's one positive - I grew up as a person during it. And then on the other side, as a professional athlete as well. I felt like I stayed really disciplined and dedicated. So when we come out the other side and I’m allowed to fight, I'm ready to go. I've been training. So it was a difficult time but I found a way to make it through.
Hugh Wade-Jones
What are your plans? Have you got any events planned or anything coming up?
Lawrence Okolie
I've got another fight coming up the end of July, early August, so I'm getting into training for that. But once that's finished, hopefully I get a victory, which I'm training towards. Then we need to go abroad. We've been stuck here for a while now and it's time to stretch our legs. I haven't touched foot in America in over a year, this isn't fair, they need to see me be heading over there.
Hugh Wade-Jones
And tell me about winning that world title - that feeling. How does it feel to the team? And how do you go up a level from there again?
Lawrence Okolie
It was amazing, a great feeling. But for me, most of the time, I feel more relief than jubilation when I win. I don't really feel that overwhelmed with any occasion or any moment. I set out to do that and I managed to do it. Although I have been told by my mum, you’ve got to enjoy the moment. As a person I've got goals so as soon as I smash one, I've got another one I'm trying to get to. It never stops because one thing I learnt from my amateur boxing is I did a lot very quickly and I got complacent in my mind. I qualified and went to the Olympics in a record number of fights and I thought to myself, I'm an Olympian, but I didn't have that same drive to want to win a gold. So when I turned professional I promised myself that when I won a world title, because I believed I would, I’d think what's next? What's next? What's next? So I've kept that same energy that’s created.
Hugh Wade-Jones
I follow boxing quite a lot and I'm interested in how you found fighting without the fans?
Lawrence Okolie
Boxing without a crowd has pros and cons. The pros are you can hear your corner and you're focused on the actual boxing match. When there's a crowd we have a lot more energy so that's the pro of the fans. You hear the screams when you win; it is a big, big roar from crowd when you knock someone out, so those are the cons of having no fans - you don't get that energy. And the cons of having a crowd is it adds a lot more pressure to the actual arena because I need those millions of people watching around the world but I have to keep my composure. So it's interesting - when you are actually fighting it's the same feeling. However, there's more electricity when there are fans and there's more composure when there are no fans.
Hugh Wade-Jones
One of the things that I found fascinating is your vegan diet. How have you found that and how long have you been on it?
Lawrence Okolie
It's been five years that I've been vegan and I’ve found that good. Personally, I'm quite a big guy from my weight. So it's really good for managing weight, it's really good for energy levels, and I still feel really strong, really fit. So for me it works well. It was difficult initially because most boxers you meet - my whole training team – thought it was a mistake, but I challenged my nutritionist to see what we can do. Obviously, I had blood tests and other tests before and after and my results were going through the roof, even my bone density, so it’s all good.
Hugh Wade-Jones
Obviously, I saw your music video and my big takeaway from it was with the watches throughout the video in Dubai. Tell me about that and some of the areas that you're looking to move into on more the business side or the brand side. How do you see yourself moving across into that world?
Lawrence Okolie
Now I've got a book I can say I’ve done that. Then there's lots of layers to the music, whether that's a motivational song, a song from my mum. It's just another way of expressing myself but it's good to see that so many people are drawn to it. And where I come from rap and that kind of music is really big in my culture. But then I also want to get into acting. I feel like boxing is my life and it's massive - it's helped change my life and get to this point. However, it's a sport that you’re only good until you're in your mid 30s so I'm realistic about that. I'm enjoying it, I'm putting my all in, however, there's other stuff that I’d like to get into such as acting on the entertainment side. But as I've started to see a little bit more of the world, make a little bit more money, I’ve realised there’s a lot of business stuff that I'm looking to get a lot more experience in because I wasn't taught any of it growing up. So it's really interesting to me and, of course, there's always the property stuff.
Hugh Wade-Jones
The book you've released “Dare to change your life”, tell me about that. Is it about the growth mindset or about just literally changing your life?
Lawrence Okolie
It’s a mixture between the two – it’s 41 steps to help you to motivate yourself and change the direction that you're going if you don't feel you're going in the right direction. So I break it down into four different sections when we talk about lots of different topics. Whether that's social media, not letting it define you and actual personal ones, like making sure you have good people around you. Making sure you always hold yourself accountable, dealing with losses in boxing, which I think are transferable to dealing with losses in anything. So it's just all these different points and a motivation or self-help book.
Hugh Wade-Jones
I'm always breaking down what I do day to day, and thinking how can I improve. My big mantra is that talent gets you in the room, and hard work keeps you there. What's been your key to success, because you've achieved a phenomenal amount in such a short space of time. What's the biggest tip that's really driven you forward and propels you to achieve what you have?
Lawrence Okolie
Self-belief is number one, in my opinion, because once you have self-belief, you can do everything else. If you don't believe in yourself, I don't think you hold yourself accountable, and that’s the second most important tip. I feel that if you don't believe in yourself, you won't put in the hard work because you're thinking you're not going to get there anyway, what's the point? Or you're not going to make that sacrifice, or you can't see the end result. So I think, believe in yourself, and believe in your dream and your vision that you're going to accomplish – that’s number one. After that, you have to hold yourself accountable because there's looking great, saying all the right stuff in front of the cameras, but then living a completely different life off-camera. That's all just words so you have to hold yourself accountable. It doesn't matter where you come from, it's up to you to go out and go and make it happen. And once you've made that choice, make the sacrifices, make sure you do work hard, you do everything possible to get to where you need to get to. And that's it. I know it was long winded.
Hugh Wade-Jones
I think it comes down to things like how do you act when people aren't looking? What do you do when the cameras are off?
Moving on, you’re London-based at the moment but long-term would you look abroad and relocate to different parts of the world?
Lawrence Okolie
I grew up in Hackney in East London, but with boxing I'm seeing different parts of the world. And although I love England, I love Britain, I do feel that I want to stretch and see other places. I'm still quite young and there's so much more that I can see, so many things I can do. I'm definitely ready to see more of the world.
IOC proposes Olympics 2020 Games boxing plan without AIBAhttps://blog.olympictickets2020.com/ioc-proposes-olympics-2020-games-boxing-plan-without-aiba/IOC out the plan for the boxing qualification and competition for next year’s Tokyo 2020.
Olympics Boxing Followers from all over the world can buy Olympics Boxing tickets online.https://www.olympictickets2020.com/olympic-games-tickets/olympic-boxing-tickets/
However, a VPN will bypass the geo-restriction, but access to the stream would still require an active subscription.
Boxing fans are eagerly anticipating the month of December.
The possibility of a fight began to unfold when Tyson Fury issued a challenge to Deontay Wilders, appearing confident that he would beat the heavyweight champion.
But if you reside outside of these territories then we’ve got you covered.
Watch Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury on Apple TV from Anywhere in the World
The following broadcasters have been confirmed for Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury live stream.
So you may consult any of the swimming pool design companies in Dubai to design swimming pool for you which might not make you world champion in swimming but at surely can keep you at the pinkest of your health.
The current WBC interim Middleweight Champion Jermal Charlo will defend his title against the Brandon Adams in Houston this month.
The competing fighters hail from Houston, so this is a special event for them both; one that will be fought in the ring surrounded by cheerful chants of hometown fans.
Jermal Charlo appears confident ahead of the fight and promises to deliver his best.
Jermall Charlo vs. Brandon Adams Date, Time and Venue
Time: 9 PM Eastern Time / 6 PM Pacific Time
Venue: NRG Arena, Houston, Texas
