Okolie brand Joshua’s promoter malicious, jealous, bitter and vindictive

Okolie brand Joshua’s promoter malicious, jealous, bitter and vindictive

 Nigeria born former world champion Anthony Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn has been branded as ‘malicious’, ‘jealous’, ‘bitter’ and ‘vindictive’ with the Matchroom promoter told more boxers will leave his stable.

This is the view of WBO cruiserweight champion Nigeria born Lawrence Okolie, who delivered a scathing analysis of the 43-year-old’s character.

The unbeaten Rio 2016 Olympian recently split with Hearn, who had promoted all 18 of his professional fights since 2017.

Okolie is now preparing for his first bout with Hearn’s rival promotion BOXXER as he defends his WBO title against David Light at the Manchester Arena on Saturday night.

And he didn’t hold back in his view of Hearn, who was involved in a heated 90-minute discussion with talkSPORT host Simon Jordan on Tuesday.

Commenting on why he chose to sign for BOXXER, Okolie said on Drive: “Basically long story short, you have a choice as a fighter to go where you are celebrated, or go to where you’re tolerated, and I felt like I was being tolerated at my last place.

“And I could be celebrated here depending on how I get on in terms of wins and then we go from there.”

He continued: “At the end of the day, I don’t want to get into Eddie Hearn, he’s a former promoter, it’s like talking about an ex [partner] over and over again, it is what it is.

Okolie became world champion with stunning one punch KO that left opponent flat on back

Pressed on whether they are still in talks, Okolie remarked: “Me and him have chats because we have an ongoing situation behind the scenes that maybe I am not allowed to talk too much on.

“But the way he acts personally is very different. He’s very malicious, bitter, jealous as well.

“And for someone who has been brought up in such a great position and has done so much in terms of his own life, the way he acts on a personal level is very vindictive.

 “It’s quite shocking to be honest, but ultimately I actually rate him as a promoter. But in terms of other stuff, not so much.”

Okolie isn’t the only fighter that has swapped Matchroom for BOXXER in recent times, with Joshua Buatsi, Liam Smith, Chris Billam-Smith and Joseph Parker all making the move.

Asked whether Hearn acts differently with other fighters who leave him, Okolie stated: “All you have to do is look at the track record!

“When it was my departure, it was very easy to say, ‘he’s this, he’s that,’ and now we’ve had more fighters leave.

“At the time Liam Smith left, ‘oh yeah he’s in his heyday, don’t worry about that one.’ Now his career has gone through the roof.

“You look at Chris Billam-Smith, a former stablemate of mine, ‘oh we don’t really care about the Chris BIllam-Smith’s headline fights at Bournemouth.’

“The list goes on, now Joshua Buatsi gone, all of a sudden he’s scared and whatever else, us boxers, we all talk.

“We’re all very much aware of what he’s like and conversations that are happening, because at the end of the day, we’re the ones that get in [the ring] and we’re really the only ones that understand each other.

 “So, of course he’s like that with everyone, my one was probably a little bit easier to do, but with others, as we’ve seen this week, all of a sudden, now ‘Joshua Buatsi is scared…’

“But when you asked him two months ago, ‘Joshua Buatsi is ready for anything,’ so it is what it is.”

And Okolie then claimed that it wouldn’t be a shock for him if more boxers follow him in leaving Hearn once their contracts come to an end.

He said: “All you have to do is look at how people act after you’re no longer working with them, they’ll show you their truth.

“And it’s not just with me, as I said I’m not here to talk about other fighters, even that much about Eddie, that is the feeling amongst not just myself, but a lot of fighters.

“And I’m sure you’ll see a bunch more do similar things if he continues down this road.”