THE next fight for Britain’s Lawrence Okolie appears to be locked in.
Hackney’s big-punching 31-year-old has agreed terms to defend his WBC Bridgerweight title against southpaw Kevin Lerena, according to the sanctioning body.
Okolie, (20-1, 15 KOs), returned to form in May when he knocked Lukasz Rozanski out in one round to take the belt from the Pole in his own country. With trainer Joe Gallagher in Okolie’s corner for the first time the former Olympian faced little resistance against the inactive Rozanski and once the challenger began finding the target and letting his hands go the fight was as good as over.
The win came nearly one year to the day since he lost his unbeaten record and WBO cruiserweight title to Chris Billam-Smith in Bournemouth. With a quick victory under his belt Okolie was keen to be back in the ring as soon as possible and it looks as though Lerena, (30-3, 14 KOs), will be next.
Lerena, mandatory challenger for the WBC Bridgerweight strap, will tackle British opposition for the second time in four fights having lost to Daniel Dubois in a frantic encounter over 18 months ago. The South African had Dubois in all sorts of trouble during the first round after dropping him with a left hook before a leg injury had the big heavyweight down on two more occasions. Dubois rallied and got the job done in the third much to his relief.
Points wins over Ryad Merhy and Senad Gashi led Lerena to Saudi Arabia to face Justis Huni in March. The Aussie beat Lerena over 10 rounds but had to survive an almighty scare with 90 seconds left in the final session after he was caught by a huge left hook which had Huni in a world of trouble but he held on for the win. Lerena received enormous respect and credit for competing having lost his mum during fight week. Afterwards the 32-year-old hinted he may return to Bridgerweight and now looks set to tackle the 6ft 5ins Okolie in the near future.
