Lawrence Okolie Aiming To Become A Three-Weight World Champ: “That’s Legacy, That’s Forever”
Lawrence Okolie travels to Poland on Friday, to challenge WBC bridgerweight champ Lukasz Rozanski, and the former WBO cruiserweight champion has spoken about his desire to become a three-weight world champion – at cruiserweight, at bridgerweight, and ultimately at heavyweight.
31 year old Okolie, currently 19-1(14) and looking to rebound from his May 2023 decision loss to Chris Billam-Smith, the loss seeing “The Sauce” lose the WBO cruiser belt, faces a dangerous puncher in Rozanski, 15-0(14). Okolie has youth on his size at age 31 to Rozanski’s 38, and the man from London has the size advantage at 6’5” to the defending champion’s 6’1”
It promises to be an interesting fight on Friday, and Okolie is looking to snatch the belt and then make the move up to heavyweight. Speaking with Sky Sports, Okolie says his becoming a three-weight world champion would see him secure a legacy, “forever.”
“No matter what has happened in my career, I’ve had some great fights, and I’ve had some poor fights but if I can end my career as a three-weight world champion then that’s legacy, that’s forever. I’d love to fight them [Usyk and/or Fury] because I’d get paid millions of pounds. It would be interesting going in as an underdog and seeing how I rise to that occasion. I’m quite realistic in that I don’t think I’ll box any of those guys, they’ve only got another year or so of boxing each other before they sail off. It’s the ones underneath, the [Filip] Hrgovics and even [Joseph] Parkers that are going to be at world level when it’s time.”
Who knows if it will ever “be time” for Okolie to challenge for a major heavyweight title, much less actually win one. Okolie does have the height and the reach but there is a heck more to it than just that. Okolie, though, has shown great ability in some of his fights, while he has also looked pretty average in some of his fights. If Okolie can score an impressive, dominant win on Friday, this a full year on from his bad night against Billam-Smith, fans will be more keen to listen to him talk about going up and winning a heavyweight title. It’s no forgone conclusion that Okolie beats Rozanski, however. Rozanski, who saw off Alen Babic in double-quick time in his last fight, this a little over a year ago, has the kind of power than could ruin Okolie’s big plans.
Both men could be rusty on Friday, and either man could get caught by something big early on. Indeed, Friday’s fight has the potential to be a real, ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ affair.
No way this one goes the distance. It could be over in a couple of exciting rounds. Okolie has to deliver here, as another loss, even though it would only be his second defeat, would be tough to overcome.
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