FORMER world cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie is reportedly in talks to stage his next heavyweight outing in the UK, with Luis Ortiz being mentioned as a possible opponent.
The 32-year-old made his heavyweight debut last month, reaching a career-highest weight of 260 lbs before producing an emphatic first-round stoppage victory over Hussein Muhamed.
Before that, ‘The Sauce’ had a brief spell at bridgerweight – dispatching Lukasz Rozanski for the WBC trinket – following his stunning defeat to Chris Billam-Smith back in 2023.
But now, according to ESPN boxing journalist Mike Coppinger, Okolie, 21-1 (16 KOs), could be gearing up to face former world title challenger Ortiz, 34-3 (29 KOs).
The Cuban is perhaps best known for his two defeats to former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, losing inside the distance on both occasions.
Still, their first encounter was one of the most enthralling heavyweight contests in recent years, with Ortiz producing a strong performance before getting stopped in the tenth round.
More recently, though, ‘King Kong’ suffered his third professional defeat against Andy Ruiz Jr in 2022, before getting back to winning ways against an obscure opponent at the beginning of last year.
Even so, at the age of 45, the once slick southpaw has well and truly entered the twilight years of his career, with Father Time having seemingly already caught up with him.
Okolie, meanwhile, still appears to have a bright future ahead of him, as his lofty fourth-place ranking with the WBC would suggest that a world title shot is not a million miles away.
