LAWRENCE Okolie insists he is “coming to make an extremely big statement” when he faces home favourite Chris Billam-Smith at Vitality Stadium tomorrow night.

Okolie, unbeaten in 19 professional fights, will put his WBO cruiserweight title on the line and goes in as big bookmakers’ favourite to upset the near 15,000 crowd.

The 30-year-old, who represented Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics, agreed to a quick turnaround in fights having beaten David Light on points after 12 rounds in Manchester in March.

Looking ahead to his headline fight with Billam-Smith, Okolie said: “I’m extremely confident. I’m in great condition.

“I’m a great athlete, great boxer. From amateur to professional, I’ve shown time and time again that I’m ready to take the risk and do what needs to get done.

“I became an Olympian with very limited fights. I became a British, European, Commonwealth champion with very limited experience as a pro, won a world title, defended it a few times, so I’m very, very confident in myself in what I’ve done and accomplished.

“I’m going to demonstrate why I’ve done that stuff on Saturday.”

Speaking earlier this week, Okolie suggested he felt more confident in victory after seeing Billam-Smith in the flesh.

The pair previously trained in the same gym, before Okolie left trainer Shane McGuigan to link up with American SugarHill Steward, who works with Tyson Fury, earlier this year.

“The reality is, it’s out of sight, out of mind,” said Okolie.

“Me and Chris were in the same gym, with Shane. I think when you’ve been away for a while, you can either tear someone down or build them up in your mind.

“For me, I’ve built him up – this guy is a monster, he’s going to be throwing punch after punch for round after round. Then I saw him and I just remembered, it’s just a guy.

“They might’ve done the same or the opposite (about me).

“One thing I’ve noticed in this whole build-up is that I’m very confident in myself and a lot of the stuff I’ve heard coming from their camp is based on me being less than, but I can say here that I’m in amazing shape and I’m coming to do a job.”

The Londoner added: “I’m coming to make an extremely big statement on the weekend.

“As much as I love and respect the other side, I think a lot of this stuff has been built up around destiny and world titles and Bournemouth, but I’m my own man on my own journey and there’s stuff that I want and need and I’m ready to fight for it.

“We’re going to find out on the weekend what’s what and who’s who.”