Cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie will be pushing for a rematch with newly crowned WBO world champion Chris Billam0-Smith.
Before a frenzied crowd at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, Billam-Smith dropped Okolie three times to secure a twelve round majority decision win.
Okolie, who suffered his first defeat as a professional, is confident of chances in a rematch.
“This is boxing. The main thing I know is I’m down but I’m not out. It was a good performance from Chris,” Okolie said to Sky Sports.
“But there was nothing in there that made me think he’s unbelievable or whatever else. It was just a good performance. He put everything on the line and he got his reward for it, but I will definitely be pushing for a rematch.”
Okolie also has no issues with going back to Billam-Smith’s hometown for the rematch.
“It was exciting for me. I’m not going to lie. I loved it. It’s very hard to recreate that energy for an opponent to come with everything,” Okolie said.
“Fighting in someone’s back garden and seeing everything they’ve got. Chris was fantastic, his confidence is probably going to go up off that win. But there’s not really much more to it. If I’m going to lose in Bournemouth, I might as well win here.”
Besides getting dropped three times, Okolie was also deducted two points by the referee for excessive holding.
He felt the referee allowed himself to be influenced by Shane McGuigan, who trains Billam-Smith.
“There’s certain positions that you’re allowed to get into in boxing and there’s no fight in boxing where two people don’t come together. Obviously with the occasion and you’ve got Shane [McGuigan] in the corner: ‘He’s holding!’ Anyone can get flustered,” Okolie said.
“The crowd was excited, it’s Bournemouth, I was the away fighter in a sense, despite being the champion. For me I should have been better. I wasn’t, so you’ve got to take it and come again.”