At the start of 2024 we all had a very clear image of Lawrence Okolie only for this image to then change, distort and grow as the year progressed.
In January, we still remembered Okolie as a cruiserweight, long and lean but as much hampered by these physical advantages as enhanced by them. We remembered as well him flattering to deceive against Chris Billam Smith, to whom he relinquished his WBO belt, and feared it would now be difficult for Okolie, on account of that performance and prior ones, to be promoted in a sport famously short on both patience and understanding.
Then we heard he had joined up with Joe Gallagher, Manchester’s trainer of champions, and that he planned to reinvent himself in a new weight division: bridgerweight. This division, 24 pounds north of cruiserweight, was still in its infancy and therefore lacking in depth, yet for Okolie all that really mattered was what it represented: a fresh start and a chance to present to the world a different image.
Better yet, as well as weighing 223 pounds for his debut fight at bridgerweight, Okolie also looked spectacular at the new weight, halting Lukasz Rozanski inside the very first round of a fight in Poland. Suddenly, in just a matter of minutes, we had a new image of Okolie. He was bigger, yes, this we had gleaned from the weigh in, but on fight night Okolie would go on to provide an image of fulfilled potential; one he had always teased but to date struggled to deliver.
Six months later, we then had yet another version of Okolie. This one was bigger still and now calling himself a heavyweight.
Some, seeing him weigh in, said he was fat and too heavy at 260 pounds, yet Okolie looked as good as ever on fight night. This time he stopped Hussein Muhamed, a 6 ‘5 German, inside a round, and did so in first gear. Indeed, the ease with which he trounced his first heavyweight opponent left those who watched the demolition unable to work out whether now nothing made sense or, conversely, everything made sense.
“When Lawrence came to me and mentioned bridgerweight, I thought it was ideal, brilliant,” said Okolie’s coach, Joe Gallagher. “The weight for that was 16 stone and I wanted to see how he performed at that weight. He always said he was drained as a cruiserweight and that it killed him to make weight.
“He made bridgerweight and he got in the ring against Rozanski at around 16 stone 12 (236lbs). In the gymnasium for that camp all his sparring was done at around 16 stone or 17 stone. I thought, Wow, he’s carrying the weight really well.
“He fought Rozanski and he looked sensational. He was tall, he was upright, and his shot selection was good. He showed good mobility.
“Then you look at Oleksandr Usyk, who weighed 16 stone for the Tyson Fury fight (in December), and you remind yourself that there are big heavyweights and there are small heavyweights.
“He’d done everything he could at bridgerweight really. There was talk of a unification fight but that didn’t happen. So we looked at how he operated at 17 stone against Rozanski and decided he should just move up.
“For his first fight I wanted an opponent who was a proper heavyweight – an 18-stone man. I wanted someone tall, someone big, and his last opponent (Hussein Muhamed) ticked those boxes. He was a good amateur, good fighter, could punch, and he brought a bit of fear factor.
“Before that fight I made Lawrence watch lots of Lennox Lewis. I had him watch his fights against (Andrew) Golota and (Donovan) ‘Razor’ Ruddock. I wanted him to see how he dealt with them, with a good jab and that. That was the plan for that one.”
The growth of Okolie in the last 12 months makes for a fascinating case study. Twice the man he used to be, in more ways than one, his reinvention has from the start been something of a balancing act, with the gaining of weight never an exact science in boxing. While some need those extra pounds to operate at their best, for others it serves only to slow them down and diminish their capacity to spot and react to danger.
As for Okolie, 21-1 (16), the signs so far suggest he is a fighter for whom bigger really does mean better.
“His work on the track continued, his work in the gym continued, sparring continued, and he’s a very athletic kid,” said Gallagher. “Doing track at 17 stone and then doing it at 18 stone with a weighted vest on, he was still doing it. Granted, he wasn’t hitting the same times, but they weren’t five or ten seconds short of his old times. They were one or two. The effort, the energy and the recovery was still there and his punch output was still there. I’m really pleased with him.
“People criticised him for bulking up, and I’ve even seen fellow professionals ripping him. You would like to think they know better. Look at Tyson Fury. Look at Larry Holmes. Not everyone is body beautiful.”
Of course, for as much as Okolie’s move to heavyweight is about loosening his belt and removing the pain of making weight, it is also a commercial and financial decision. After all, it is at heavyweight, rather than bridgerweight, Okolie stands to make the kind of money all boxers hope to make during their prime fighting years. It is there, too, at heavyweight, that the 32-year-old suddenly finds himself surrounded by viable big-name opponents, all of whom are just as keen to land lucrative fights in the Middle East.
“We’re looking for a big fight in April,” Gallagher confirmed. “We’re also looking at how the heavyweight division plays out. We’re looking at where Fabio Wardley goes with the WBA and Moses Itauma with the WBO. Everybody is getting in position for when those titles become vacant or even when interim belts become available.
“Lawrence Okolie is in a really good position with the WBC. I think we’re one fight away from him becoming a mandatory challenger with them. So, we’re looking at a good fight in April with that in mind; another fight to give him a challenge. We’ve mentioned (Deontay) Wilder, we’ve mentioned Joe Joyce. We’re looking at those types of opponents – names who will most likely give us rounds and generate a bit of fear factor as well.”
Should Okolie get through what will probably be his first true test as a top-level heavyweight in April, the plan then is for the Londoner to petition for a shot at a version of the world heavyweight title. This, as it stands, is most likely to be the WBC version, but there are others, too, and Gallagher, who knows this bizarre business as well as anyone, expects quite the free-for-all in the second half of 2025.
“One hundred per cent,” he said when asked if Okolie would fight for a belt this year. “Maybe Usyk and (Daniel) Dubois will have some big unification fight in August or September and then we will see what happens with the belts. In the meantime, the sanctioning bodies will be flexing their muscles as they always do and putting pressure on their champions to make mandatory defences. That will then probably lead to the fragmentation of it all. You’ve just got to be in that position to challenge for the belts and that’s what we’re focusing on now.
“I think we’re about to see a similar era to the one when you had (Tim) Witherspoon, (James) ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith and Tony Tucker as champions. They were all chopping and changing and they could all beat each other on any given night. Nobody was able to hold their belt for very long back then and I think we’re heading that way again.”
He could be right. For if history tells us anything it is that the heavyweight division is much like a reinvented boxer. It may change its appearance from time to time, but fundamentally it remains the same.
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