Lawrence Okolie dominated and dismantled Pole Lukasz Rozanski in his hometown to become a two-weight world champion and kicked off a successful start to life under trainer Joe Gallagher.
Okolie (20-1, 15 KOs), who held the WBO cruiserweight world title, traveled to Rzeszow in Poland with a point to prove and made it emphatically. The former Olympian produced three heavy knockdowns inside the opening round courtesy of his right hand. It was all over at 2:55 and Okolie was the new WBC bridgerweight boss.
It’s an unfashionable title, but Gallagher and Okolie plan to put it to good use before making the oft-discussed move to heavyweight.
Gallagher, when asked by Sky Sports whether a run at heavyweight was next, cooled expectations and said he wanted to see his new charge remain at bridgerweight and target a unification with WBA titleholder Evgeny Tishchenko (12-1, 7 KOs).
“I’d like to see a unification. There’s a WBA unification fight there [against Tishchenko],” Gallagher said.
Gallagher explained that Okolie was already weighing comparably to the likes of Deontay Wilder and undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
“There are also small heavyweights out there like Deontay Wilder, who weighs around 15 and a half stone [220lbs] and Usyk, who weighs 15st 13lbs [223lbs]. I’m not saying we are fighting Usyk, but Lawrence is right there at the moment with the weights for heavyweights. It has got to be a natural progression, but I’d like to see him unify this [WBC title] with the WBA champion, then move into the heavyweight division.”
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