Lawrence Okolie successfully defended his WBO cruiserweight title by defeating Michal Cieslak via unanimous decision on Sunday night at the O2 Arena in London.

The British Olympian registered his second defence of the 200lbs belt with a laboured victory over his Polish rival in front of a sold-out crowd at the Millennium Dome.

Okolie, who won the belt by knocking out Krzysztof Glowacki in March of last year, was escorted to the ring by Anthony Joshua and Israel Adesanya before the main event got underway.

With Mairis Briedis sat ringside, the Hackney man knew he had the perfect opportunity to make a statement.

However, Cieslak proved to be a tricky customer, as Okolie kept hunting for the knockout but to no avail.

All three judges saw it the same way, with one calling it by a 117-110 margin, another scoring it 116-111, and the third having it 115-112.

It wasn't pretty but he still managed to get the job done.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 27: Lawrence Okolie celebrates victory with his team after the WBO World Cruiserweight Title fight between Lawrence Okolie and Michal Cieslak at The O2 Arena on February 27, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)

Speaking to DAZN, Okolie said: "I think it is good to get that learning under my belt. He is a top competitor and pushed the pace. A good 12 rounds.

"The right hand he was tucking under it very well. I was trying to find the different angles to get it but he was coming back with left hooks. I will see what I can work on going forward.

"I thought when I dropped him in the fifth I had closed the show but he has a lot of supporters and at this level you can't just close straight away.

"As much as I am focused it is difficult to pick myself for certain fights up when looking for unifications."

More to follow...

This is a breaking news article that is currently being updated. More details will be published shortly. Please refresh this page for the latest information.

GiveMeSport (GMS) is a sport media outlet providing exclusive player and manager interviews, and providing fans with up-to-date features, match previews and match reviews. We share breaking domestic and European sports news, results, fixtures and stats, as well as photos and videos on trending sports topics.

As the number one Facebook Sport Publisher, GMS reaches over 30M unique visitors monthly, including 26M Facebook fans, more than ESPN (19.2M) or SkySports (11.64M).

GIVEMESPORT is part of the Snack Media Group, a leading independent sports digital media company with over 70 million sports fans, specialising in multi-channel content creation, distributed at scale, through data driven engagement strategies.