Matty Askin To Defend British Title Against Lawrence Okolie On Joshua vs. Povetkin Card

With one unified world heavyweight title fight and a lightweight title eliminator already set for Wembley Stadium, Matchroom Boxing keeps adding on big fights for the September 22 card.

Matchroom Boxing announced that Matty Askin will defend his British cruiserweight title against undefeated prospect and budding star Lawrence Okolie on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin.

Okolie, already the WBA Continental and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion, will be taking another step into his career as he is looking to win his 10th boxing fight as a pro. Okolie, who competed in the 2016 Olympics and is managed by Joshua, is ranked No. 15 in the WBA rankings at cruiserweight. This will be Okolie’s third fight in 2018 with the first fight being against Isaac Chamberlain in a bout that headlined a February boxing card at the O2 Arena.

Askin will be making his second defense as the British champion, last fighting in March when he stopped Stephen Simmons in the second round. Askin, a former English cruiserweight champion, has been undefeated in three years, winning six of his last seven fights with one draw.

The event will be headlined by Joshua’s unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight title defense against Povetkin and will also feature a rematch between Luke Campbell and Yvan Mendy in a WBC lightweight title eliminator. The fight card, expected to have a sellout crowd of 90,000, will be streamed in the United States on the DAZN platform, which will launch in the U.S. later in September.