Former WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie will be trying to reinvent himself when he challenges the unbeaten power-punching Lukasz Rozanski for his WBC World Bridgerweight title this Friday, May 24th, in a 12-round contest on Sky Sports at the Podpromie Arena in Rzeszow, Poland.
It could be difficult for Okolie if he can’t keep the pressure fighter Rozanski off of him because he’s like a Mike Tyson type of fighter with the way he attacks his opponents and doesn’t let up. Okolie doesn’t have the best chin, as we saw in his last fight in getting knocked down three times by Chris Billiam-Smith.
Okolie’s Transition to Bridgerweight
Okolie (19-1, 14 KOs) has been inactive since losing his WBO title to Chris Billiam-Smith by a twelve round majority decision last year in May 2023.
It’s understandable why the 6’5″ Okolie has chosen to move up to Bridgerweight after that loss because he’d been having problems making weight for his cruiserweight contests, and it was time for him to go up.
If Okolie is successful against Rozansky (15-0, 14 KOs), it would be a good idea to move up to heavyweight and follow in the footsteps of Oleksandr Usyk, who moved up from cruiserweight to heavyweight around the same age at 32. It only took him three years to become a unified heavyweight champion.
Okolie’s Strategy and Outlook
“I feel like this could be a fight that’s tailor-made. He is an aggressive fighter, but I am a tall, explosive fighter. When I’m able to execute properly, it makes for a show-stopping KO. So, that’s what I’m looking for,” said Lawrence Okolie to talkSport Boxing about his fight this Friday night against Lukasz Rozanski in Poland.
“The guy is going to come looking for me, and it’s up to me not to get flustered. I’m not going to be going in there, closing my eyes and throwing shots. I’m going to be picking intelligent shots, and I’m going to be hurting him when I land. We’ll see how it goes.
“I’m on my way to becoming a two-weight world champion out of Britain. So let’s get it. I think it’s well-documented for a number of years how big I was for the weight, and I think back to back camps and a year out, it was a lot to make that weight again and perform, and I felt a lot of my strength and power was leaving in the gym,” said Okolie on why he decided to move up from cruiserweight to bridgerweight.
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