Lawrence Okolie has revealed it was his Lagos-born mother Elizabeth who convinced him to agree to a Nigeria boxing debut this weekend.

The 32-year-old will face Ebenezer Tetteh at Onikan Stadium, Lagos on Sunday at the top of the latest Balmoral Group promotion streamed live on DAZN.

But former cruiserweight world champion Okolie (22-1), who is signed with Queensberry Promotions, had no shortage of options for his first fight back since injuring his bicep during his lopsided points win over Kevin Lerena at Wembley in July.

However, once an outing in the Nigerian capital was on the table, there was no way his mum was going to allow him to opt for any other fight.

"Initially I was a bit 50-50," Okolie told The Ring. "There was a show in England where Derek Chisora was meant to be the headline and I was contemplating that one.

"But when I decided to go for the Nigeria opportunity it was because my mum was shouting at me: 'you have to, no, you have to take it'. So I took that route instead of the usual one I would take and it has ended up working out. She's over the moon."

Okolie was a ringside guest for the most recent show staged by Balmoral and their forward thinking frontman Ezekiel Adamu. That night, Wednesday October 1, Brandon Glanton forced Marcus Browne into a sixth round retirement and Okolie got a flavour of the atmosphere that will greet him on Sunday night.

"I went to that event in October and got FOMO," Okolie continues.

"I watched the fans, the event, I saw it all happening live, the fireworks and everything. I was just like: 'wait, why am I not involved?' I'm Nigerian. I'm a former world champion, surely I must get a slot.

"It's also how I was received. I'm going to gyms and my face is painted on walls. But because I was born and lived in England, everything's England, I forget that there's actually a whole country where they're into boxing, they know Anthony Joshua, myself, Moses Itauma, David Adeleye.

"They see it's a Nigerian name and get behind like that so I just wanted the opportunity to showcase a bit of what I do elsewhere in Nigeria. So I just spoke to the promoter and said 'let's get this done'."

Okolie was born in Stoke Newington in the east London borough of Hackney to his parents Elizabeth and Lawrence Sr, who had not long been in the capital when their son arrived.

He attended school locally and went on to represent Team GB at the Olympics but has always been fiercely proud of his Nigerian heritage and returns to Lagos regularly.

"Being able to fight there now is the best," he said. "Just being able to say, for my mum, my dad, for the heritage, to show my skills that I've been blessed to be good at. To take it back to the city that my parents were born in.

"A lot of their friends can only send me messages of congratulations and never been able to actually watch me fight. They've just heard about their nephew or family member who's doing it in England but now I get to showcase in front of them, so it's really exciting.

"There is going to be a lot of uncles and aunties who always send their prayers and now they get to see it in person. They'll get to come into the dressing room to give their prayers in real life, wish me the best and then I can go make it happen."

Okolie has made no mistakes since stepping up to heavyweight 12 months ago, stopping Hussein Muhamed in the first round of their contest at Wembley Arena last December before his 10-round decision win against Lerena across the road at the stadium.

Tetteh, now 37, is not expected to last very long against big-punching Okolie, who is the third Brit in a row he has faced. Tetteh was stopped by Dillian Whyte in the seventh round of a bizarre tear-up in Gibraltar a year ago before Frazer Clarke needed just 112 seconds to dispose of him in Birmingham on April 20.

They will feature in the main event while Tony Yoka, the 2016 Olympic champion, is a late addition to the card while Adeleye, originally scheduled to feature, is now conspicuous by his absence. Yoka (14-3, 11 KOs) will face Germany's Patrick Korte (23-5-1, 19 KOs) over 10.

"There's screaming from women, men, children, just all screaming and shouting," Okolie adds of the atmosphere he’s expecting to greet him.

"There's an electricity about it and pride. I see it like how people are with their football teams; it's like it means a lot to them to see their guys go on and win, I just can't wait to sort of feel that energy on the day."