LAWRENCE Okolie has set his sights on potential showdowns with Fabio Wardley and Agit Kabayel, both of them piquing his interest for slightly different reasons.
‘The Sauce’ returned to action last Saturday, fiddling his way through a comfortable yet lacklustre 10-round display against an unremarkable Kevin Lerena.
Sure enough, their heavyweight encounter, which featured on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois 2 at Wembley Stadium, London, was far removed from an inspiring clash of styles.
It was then later revealed, however, that Okolie had torn his bicep from the very first round, meaning that any thumping right hands were ultimately few and far between.
Despite that injury, the 32-year-old nonetheless came through his second heavyweight outing in convincing fashion, cementing his number-one WBC ranking with a wide unanimous decision victory.
As a result, Okolie has expressed an eagerness to take on Kabayel, 26-0 (18 KOs), the WBC interim champion, in a bid to accelerate his world title charge.
It is, indeed, a matchup that makes perfect sense, with the winner putting himself in a far stronger position to challenge for Usyk’s full green and gold strap.
That said, Okolie has equally highlighted Wardley, 19-0-1 (18 KOs), as a possible option, firmly believing that the hard-hitting operator would bring the best out of him.
Wardley, as it happens, holds the WBA interim title, which he claimed following a stunning tenth-round finish over Justis Huni last month.
Like Kabayel, the 30-year-old certainly represents an intriguing opponent for Okolie and, to make matters even more straightforward, all three contenders just so happen to fight under Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions banner.
“It would be Kabayel,” Okolie told Sky Sports, when asked who he would like to fight next.
“He’s the only person who’s higher ranked than me with the WBC. Aside from [him], it would probably be Fabio Wardley.
“The reason why that one’s interesting is because he’s a British fighter, who’s [19-0-1 with 18 KOs].
“He’s explosive, and it’s a fight where I have to be at my absolute best to win. I like that one.”
Queensberry promoter Warren has teased a German homecoming for Kabayel later this year, while Wardley, on the other hand, has expressed an interest in facing the winner of Kubrat Pulev and Michael Hunter’s expected WBA regular title dustup.
