On May 27, 2023, Lawrence Okolie (19-0, 14 KOs), the cruiserweight WBO champion, defends his title against the reigning WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith (17-1, 12 KOs).
Lawrence Okolie is coming in to the fight on a 19-fight win streak with a 73% KO rate; his last fight was a unanimous decision win over David Light, 2 months and 2 days ago. Chris Billam-Smith is on a 8-fight win streak with a 66% KO rate, with his last fight being a 5th round KO win over Armend Xhoxhaj, 5 months and 10 days ago.
The winning odds are at 59-41 in favor of Lawrence Okolie. Chris Billam-Smith could also pull it off but he will have to put up a truly exceptional fight if he is to win.
Chris Billam-Smith defeated Lawrence Okolie via majority decision and wins the WBO title — in his first world-title fight. Billam-Smith improves his record to 18-1, while Okolie adds a loss to his record at 19-1.