Okolie Aims to Reinvent Himself in Bridgerweight Title Shot Against Rozanski

Former WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie will look to revive himself when he challenges undefeated Lukasz Rozanski for his WBC World Bridgeweight title on Friday, May 24, in a 12-round bout on Sky Sports at the Podpromie Arena in Rzeszow, Poland.

It may be difficult for Okolie if he can’t stop Rozanski who fights for pressure because he is like a Mike Tyson type of fighter in the way he attacks his opponents and does not give up. Okolie doesn’t have a very good chin, as we saw in his last fight where he was knocked down three times by Chris Billiam-Smith.

Okolie’s transition to Bridgerweight

Okolie (19-1, 14 KOs) has not moved since losing his WBO title to Chris Billiam-Smith via a twelve-round majority decision last year in May 2023.

It’s understandable why the 6’5″ Okolie chose to move up to Bridgerweight after that because he had trouble making weight in his cruiserweight competition, it was time for him to move 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 from cruiserweight to heavyweight at the same time at age 32. it only took him three years to become the unified heavyweight champion.

Okolie’s Strategy and Outlook

“I feel like this could be a tailor-made war. He is a fierce fighter, but I am a tall, explosive fighter. If I can do it right, it makes for a show-stopping KO. So that’s what I want,” said Lawrence Okolie speaking to talkSport Boxing about his Friday night fight with Lukasz Rozanski in Poland.

“This boy will come looking for me, it’s for me not to get confused. I will not go in there, close my eyes and shoot. I’ll be choosing a smart shot, and I’ll be hurting him when I land. We will see how it goes.

“I’m on my way to becoming a twoweight world champion from Britain. So let’s find it. I think it’s been well documented for several years how much weight I was, and I think back to the back camps and the year out, it was a lot to make that weight again and again, and I felt a lot of strength and energy leaving the gym,” said Okolie on why he decided to move up from cruiserweight to bridgerweight.