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Why Jake Paul needs to accept Lawrence Okolie's training offer ahead of Anthony Joshua fight
It may have only been announced last week, but the controversial fight between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua is just over three weeks away.
Taking place on December 19 in Miami, this contest has been met with criticism with Joshua, a two-time world heavyweight champion, facing an opponent who is a boxing novice and has only found success against either retired fighters or those from the world of MMA.
Joshua is expected to make easy work of Paul. His superior boxing ability and physical attributes should see him dispatch Paul within a round. However, ‘The Problem Child’ could get a helping hand from former Olympian and cruiserweight world champion Lawrence Okolie.
The 32-year-old recently offered to spar with Paul before his showdown with Joshua during a media roundtable, and while it raised eyebrows, there could be some logic behind the madness.
Lawrence Okolie offers to help Jake Paul in AJ training camp
Until the fight has taken place, every prominent heavyweight will be asked for their thoughts on Paul’s fight with Joshua, and Okolie was no different.
However, instead of being for or against the contest, Okolie is intrigued by the fight and instead wants to give Paul while he prepares to face one this millennium’s great fighters.
“I want to go out there to Puerto Rico. What I don’t want to happen for him is he gets absolutely destroyed in a round or whatever if AJ turns it on. I want him to have a little feeling of what it’s like to be in there with a world class heavyweight beforehand,” Okolie said.
“I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it’s not a crazy difference in size and skill. But you know what, crazier things have happened.
“I know I have a fight coming up, but I’ll go out for a couple of weeks. I want to know what it is that’s allowed Jake Paul to say to himself, 'I’m going to get in there with a 250lb muscle man from England, this big guy, Olympic gold, former heavyweight world champion in front of millions of fans on Netflix.' ”
How could Lawrence Okolie help Jake Paul
Okolie may be preparing for a fight on December 19 in Nigeria, but Paul would be silly to turn down the offer to face the former cruiserweight champion if there is truth to it.
Paul has a height and reach of 6’ 1” and 76” respectively, and it’s no surprise that Joshua is five inches and six inches superior in both departments. Therefore, if Paul is to give him the best possible chance to shock the boxing world, he needs to face physically bigger opponents in sparring.
Okolie fits that mould. Standing at 6’ 5” and a reach of 82.5”, ‘The Sauce’ would be able to give Paul an insight into what it’s like to share the ring with a fully fledged heavyweight.
Paul would be able to find out how he can get close to an opponent with a superior reach, experience the destructive punching power coming the other way and the sheer body mass which will lean on him in the clinch.
It would be some storyline if Paul and Okolie were to link-up in training camp.
Okolie, once a close friend of Joshua’s attempting to plot his downfall with a YouTuber turned professional boxer, this would play perfectly into the hands of ‘The Problem Child’ in the build-up to the biggest fight of his life.
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