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Former Anthony Joshua protege offers sparring services to Jake Paul before monster heavyweight clash
Lawrence Okolie has reached out to Jake Paul as a sparring partner ahead of the latter's bout with Anthony Joshua, offering to "give him a chance".
'The Problem Child' will step into the ring with the former two-time heavyweight champion, who begins his own comeback trail after over a year out.
Joshua is the heavy favourite for the clash, which will be held across eight three-minute rounds, in what many commentators see as a mismatch.
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But Okolie, the onetime WBO cruiserweight and WBC bridgerweight champion formerly managed by the Briton, is keen to study and spar with Paul.
"I want to go and help Jake Paul and give him a chance," he was quoted by The Ring. "I want to go out there to Puerto Rico. The offer is there.
“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 [take this fight].
Ring Magazine“I need to know. Maybe he’s got a secret that I don’t know. But I want to know before the fight.”
“I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it’s not a crazy difference in size, skill, all different ways. But you know what, crazier things have happened. So let’s just see.”
Okolie and Joshua previously enjoyed a close relationship, though the pair have seemingly grown distant since their split several years ago.
The former himself is looking to underline his status as the current number-one ranked challenger with the WBC at heavyweight, and fights next month himself in Nigeria.
Beyond that, Okolie has already got his sights on Fabio Wardley, the newly minted WBO champion after Oleksandr Usyk elected to vacate the belt earlier this week.
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