As fight fans may have read, Britain’s Lawrence Okolie has vacated the WBC bridgerweight belt as he has made it clear he will now campaign as a heavyweight. “The Sauce,” as Okolie is known, dumped the belt he won in a single round of action, this when he blasted out Lukasz Rozanski in May, the 31 year old becoming a two-weight champ with the win, Okolie having previously held the WBO cruiserweight title, and he now wants a top-five heavyweight ranking.
“After much consideration, it is with a heavy heart that I have to, unfortunately, relinquish the WBC bridgerweight belt, respectfully requesting to be rated in the top five in the heavyweight division,” Okolie wrote in an official statement.
Okolie, 20-1(15), certainly has the physical dimensions to be a heavyweight; at 6’5” and with a wingspan of 82 inches, the Londoner would hold both height and reach advantages over current world heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, for one. But has Okolie got the stuff, or the sauce, to be able to make a real dent at heavyweight? Heavyweight is, as we know, where the big money is, and as a former cruiserweight champ, Okolie follows the likes of Evander Holyfield, David Haye, and, of course, Usyk as he aims to make it in the sport’s premiere weight division.
On his best night, Okolie can be a powerful puncher who gets results (see the win over the aforementioned Rozanski), while at his worst, Okolie can stink the place out (see his duller-than-dull points win of a fight with David Light). Okolie has sparred a number of big heavyweight names, such as Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois, and Tyson Fury, and he is said to have held his own.
Okolie has some stiff odds to overcome if he is to win a world title at heavyweight; as fans know, only Holyfield, Haye, and Usyk have won world titles at both cruiser and heavyweight. Can Okolie put his name in the record books by joining the exclusive club?
There is no word yet on a date or an opponent for Okolie’s heavyweight debut, but it could prove a fun ride seeing Okolie do his thing as a heavyweight. Okolie has said before now how he would relish a shot against Usyk. “I fancy that,” Okolie told IFL TV when speaking about a fight with the superb southpaw from Ukraine. “I want to go and test it.”
Let’s see if Okolie can get anything like that far.
