Lawrence Okolie likely to face Kevin Lerena, but could land big heavyweight name

Lawrence Okolie will likely defend his WBC bridgerweight title against South Africa’s Kevin Lerena next, but his trainer Joe Gallagher is hopeful the lure of another title might tempt some of boxing’s big men – like Deontay Wilder – into a big fight for his charge.

Okolie, 20-1 (15 KOs), claimed the belt with a one-round destruction of Lukasz Rozanski in Poland in May in his first fight with Gallagher. Beforehand, there was a lot of talk about Okolie’s inconsistent displays, and Gallagher worked on his fighter’s mindset to make him come out as the aggressor. 

They sat down together and watched a classic contest, of Tommy Hearns wiping out Roberto Duran.

“That’s what I wanted from him,” Gallagher explained. “I wanted that type of display. He’s got a lot of height, a lot of reach, a lot of power, and he’s got a bit more confident with it and he went out there and executed the game plan. I was really happy for him. There’s big fights on the horizon for him.

“Lawrence was really pleased with it. Preparation and camp was brilliant. We trained over in England, Manchester [Okolie lives in Dubai], Champ’s Camp [Gallagher’s Gym], and like everyone was saying, we brought Rocky to Apollo Creed’s gym, we went back to basics and on the night he did what I wanted him to do.” 

As well as Lerena, there’s WBA bridgerweight champion Evgeny Tishchenko, but the money would come if a significant heavyweight could be tempted to compete in the new and lightly-regarded division.

“That bridgerweight, it’s a 16st [up to 224 lbs] weight division and when you look at people like Usyk that’s the weight [he weighed] before he fought Tyson Fury and there’s fights there for Lawrence Okolie, whether the other champions want to come and fight for the bridgerweight title, for fighters like Deontay [Wilder] to become a two-weight world champion, or Usyk or whatever.” 

The only loss of Okolie’s career came when Chris Billam-Smith won the WBO cruiserweight title from him last year. There had been speculation that Okolie might face Richard Riakporhe had he beaten Billam-Smith in June, but Gallagher said his fighter is now clear of those prospective opponents. 

“Them days have gone, that division,” said Gallagher. “We’ve moved on. Lawrence is on another journey now.”