Canning Town’s Wadi Camacho will start as a sizeable underdog when he faces the unbeaten British Cruiserweight king Lawrence Okolie on Saturday in an intriguing trade fight, shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in the US, but the reigning Commonwealth boss says he will surprise his many doubters by becoming the first man to inflict a defeat on ‘The Sauce’.
“People have said I was finished many times but I proved them wrong and I’ll prove them wrong again by beating Okolie,” said the 33-year-old southpaw.
“Sometimes my mindset outside the ring wasn’t the best it could be but look at my last few performances and you will see that I’m in the form of my career. I’ve had many trainers in the past and I’ve trained myself but I’m so happy to have this team around me now in a big fight. They all really put the work in behind the scenes and all the hard work is now paying off.”
In 2017 Camacho was stopped in four rounds by the then 11-0 Arfan Iqbal in a challenge for the English title but since that loss he has recaptured the Southern Area title with a points win over Ossie Jervier and successful defences against Jose Lopes and Danny Couzens.
And in November he gained revenge over the unbeaten Iqbal with a seventh round technical decision win in a contest where he captured the Commonwealth title he defends for the first time this evening.
Camacho was present at ringside when Okolie halted Tamas Lodi at The O2 in February and the pair ended up face to face in the ring as the double championship fight between the feuding fighters was announced live on Sky Sports.
There has been some choice words exchanged between the two fighters in the build-up and Camacho says he will make Okolie pay for his lack of respect towards him when they exchange punches rather than barbs.
“Lots of people don’t like him,” said Camacho. “He said I was a joke and he was gonna take all the belts off me. I don’t really get into all that sort of stuff I just let my fists do the talking. I think he’s shocked that the fights happening and I’ve turned up.
“I’m a big Cruiserweight and a southpaw which I can use to my advantage in the fight. He has an awkward style that his last few opponents have had trouble dealing with but I’m gonna take the fight to him and lets see what happens when a real Cruiserweight puncher hits him on the chin.”
Okolie vs. Camacho is part of a huge night of action at the Copper Box Arena.
Main event sees Charlie Edwards make the first defence of his WBC Flyweight World title against Spain’s Angel Moreno.
Rising Light-Heavyweight star Joshua Buatsi takes on Barrow-in-Furness man Liam Conroy for the vacant British title in his tenth fight.
Geordie ace Lewis Ritson makes his debut at 140lbs as he takes on Argentina’s German Argentino Benitez for the WBA Inter-Continental title.
Undefeated Irish Middleweight talent Jason Quigley fights for the first time as a pro in the UK, Watford Bantamweight talent Shannon Courtenay makes her highly-anticipated professional debut and Newport Bantamweight talent Sean McGoldrick fights for the first time under new trainer Jamie Moore.
