Matty Askin may be underrated for Lawrence Okolie assignment

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Matty Askin puts his British Cruiserweight title on the line against Lawrence Okolie on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua v Alexander Povetkin clash at Wembley and the layers may have underrated the chances of the champion clinging to his crown.

Okolie is the unbeaten challenger and stopped Luke Watkins, who was without a loss heading to the York Hall, in his previous fight. That looks an impressive win on paper but there was little substance to Watkins record.

Prior to that the Sauce's bottle held when he took care of Isaac Chamberlain in an uninspiring clash between the two London fighters but there is no doubt that this bout represents the Hackney man's toughest test to date.

Okolie has been able to use his size and strength to dominate opponents to this point, but Askin has the physique to counter that, and it's worth remembering that the Assassin is the vastly more experienced fighter having had 27 fights compared to the Sauce's nine.

Askin is a proven performer at this level, and while it's possible that Okolie could live up to the hype, quotes of 5-2 about the champion seem to take that for granted.

Luke Campbell's faces Yvan Mendy in a WBC lightweight final eliminator and you can expect the Hull man to get his world title dreams back on track.

Campbell suffered a shock defeat to Mendy in 2015 but that fight came at a time when perhaps Cool Hand Luke wasn't in the right place mentally.

Campbell is a more mature and settle fighter now and has the experience of the big occasion having narrowly lost to Jorge Linares when challenging for the WBA lightweight belt last year.

Campbell has the hand speed to trouble anyone and although Mendy has been keeping busy in his native France the level of opponent has been nowhere near that of the Hull man.

Mendy got the better of a split decision in the first fight but you can expect the cream to rise to the top and a Campbell points victory.

Recommendations
M Askin
1pt 5-2 Betfair, Paddy Power, Sky Bet
L Campbell by decision
3pts 4-5 Sky Bet

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