Lawrence Okolie has moved on from his win over Krzysztof Glowacki to target a unification fight with fellow champion Mairis Breidis.
Okolie won the vacant WBO cruiserweight title against his Polish rival on Saturday night in his 16th fight, 13 of which have been won by knockout. A huge closing punch from the 28-year-old Briton was enough to bring this fight to an impressive close.
Speaking after the fight, Okolie could not believe his victory.
"I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” he said.
“It’s nice hearing you say it. I’m happy. For me, it’s more of a relief. The potential has been there for over a year. I’m happy to get the victory. Now and forever, I’ll be a world champion.
"I was just really focused on putting on a good performance. I’m physically very strong and punch hard. I’m very fit, so I can win on just those attributes at a certain level. I really focused on not rushing any shots because he’s very dangerous with counter shots and he’s very heavy-handed. His jabs were very solid, so I had to be very meticulous in keeping the distance. It was a good, clean performance.
"All of the British former world champions wishing me good fortune really touched me – shout out to them. From every run that I ever did, losing all of that weight, deciding to take a risk, having my parents support me financially when I couldn’t afford to get the bus down to the gym for training. To see it all pay off with a world title is a dream come true – never give up. We can just go on from here. I need to keep pushing myself to prove myself as the best."
Latvian fighter Briedis is the current IBF world champion at cruiserweight, and Okolie believes the pair could make a fight.
"I feel like I would like to fight someone like Briedis next," said Okolie. "I think out of the champions, Briedis is the one that I would most like to go in next with.
"That would be unified in 17 fights and 42 career fights. Obviously any champion that Eddie [Hearn] can get, but the one I would be looking for is Briedis."