{"id":45631,"date":"2025-08-05T13:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45631\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T13:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:30:12","slug":"lawrence-okolie-awaits-oleksandr-usyk-to-relinquish-belts-so-he-can-unify-start-next-heavyweight-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45631\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawrence Okolie Awaits Oleksandr Usyk To Relinquish Belts So He Can Unify, Start Next Heavyweight Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Oleksandr Usyk stopped Daniel Dubois at London\u2019s Wembley Stadium<\/a> last month, the Ukrainian great didn\u2019t only regain his undisputed heavyweight crown, he cemented his standing as the best heavyweight of his era.
The win brought an unofficial end to an entertaining, active period for boxing\u2019s glamour division. By beating Dubois<\/a>, Usyk<\/a> removed the most immediate threat to his throne and after spending years embroiled with Anthony Joshua<\/a>, Tyson Fury<\/a> and Dubois, he finds himself without a standout, unavoidable rival. <\/p>\n

Usyk is coming towards the end of his outstanding career and is unlikely to be around long enough to satisfy a long list of mandatory challengers. It seems to be just a matter of time before his undisputed title is once again fragmented and a new group of contenders can battle it out for his vast collection of championship belts.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Usyk, Fury, Joshua and Deontay Wilder <\/a>have dominated the heavyweight picture for a decade. <\/p>\n

Once those massive names do depart the scene for good, heavyweight boxing looks set to enter a period of flux and somebody is going to have to step forward and prove themselves a worthy successor before being accepted by a public who have seen that \u2014 contrary to what they were told for years \u2014 big heavyweight matchups and unification fights can be made, providing all parties are willing. <\/p>\n

On the undercard of Usyk\u2019s stoppage of Dubois, former two-weight world champion, Lawrence Okolie <\/a>(22-1, 16 KOs), overcame a torn left biceps to comfortably outpoint Kevin Lerena<\/a> and secure his position as the WBC\u2019s No. 1 heavyweight.
Whatever Usyk decides to do, Okolie will be in the mix and the 32-year-old Londoner told The Ring <\/a>that he would like the bunfight to start sooner rather than later. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is begging Usyk now,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery boxer, every heavyweight boxer, every heavyweight trainer, every heavyweight manager, every heavyweight promoter is just like, ‘You’ve done it. Well done. You\u2019ve beaten everyone twice.’<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re not just saying that because they don’t want to see him lose. They\u2019re saying it because he’s holding up all the belts. So it’s like, let them all go. Let everyone else have a Royal Rumble because otherwise \u2014 whether or not any of us believe we can beat Usyk isn\u2019t the point \u2014 that means you’re stuck to all the belts being challenged for once or twice a year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, say there\u2019s four interim guys waiting, they have to wait two years each depending on which one gets pulled first so you do want to see it get divided and then there could be another push towards a further undisputed in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everything does sort of wait on Usyk but something tells me, and maybe it\u2019s just wishful thinking, that if he doesn’t box Joseph Parker next with the WBO ordering it, why would you let go of one and not let go of all of them and then just have your own exhibition match or your own fight against Fury or whoever it’s going to be against? So we have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agit Kabayel finds himself in a more delicate situation<\/a> than Okolie. The in-form German holds the WBC interim title and won\u2019t want to make any decisions about his future until Usyk decides on his next step. <\/p>\n

Should Usyk relinquish the famous green and gold belt, Kabayel and Okolie would be matched for the vacant title. It is a fight Okolie is more than willing to step into. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really like words like destined, but I think it\u2019s looking aligned. He\u2019s obviously interim champion. I’m silver [champion] and No. 1-ranked. So, I feel like it\u2019s depending on what Usyk does,\u201d Okolie said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cUsyk might decide he just wants to box Kabayel<\/a>. He might decide he wants to box Parker. He might decide he wants to box someone else. So I don’t think much is going to move until Usyk makes that decision but whether it\u2019s next or the immediate one after that, I think me and Kabayel are going to fight. And I don’t really see anyone else calling Kabayel out at all in the world. I haven’t seen one boxer say, ‘I want to box Kabayel.’<\/p>\n

\u201cI seem to be the only one beating that drum so we’ll see when the time comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another of the fighters who looks certain to be involved in the shakeup is undefeated WBA interim champion, Fabio Wardley<\/a>. Okolie has been involved in a long-running feud with Wardley\u2019s manager, Dillian Whyte, and if a fight with Kabayel would be a product of boxing politics, a meeting between the two British contenders appears to be natural and inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod willing, we’ll both keep winning. I think it\u2019s it’s a guaranteed fight that’s got to happen,\u201d Okolie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s someone that if you talk about what he’s done, it’s another person that it’ll be a lie for me to be like, ‘Oh, he ain\u2019t done [nothing].’ I think he did really well in his last fight and he showed a lot in that fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I wanted the Dillian Whyte fight <\/a>that didn’t that didn\u2019t materialise, Moses [Itauma] is getting that. Dillian manages Fabio so, if I can’t get Dillian, give me Fabio and we can have a dance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Oleksandr Usyk stopped Daniel Dubois at London\u2019s Wembley Stadium last month, the Ukrainian great didn\u2019t only regain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6842,6836,6841,6840,6834,6102,6837,6838,6839,6835,6588,6847,6846,6830,6828,6829,6844,6831,6827,6848,6843,101,6845,6826,6833,56,54,55,6832],"class_list":["post-45631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-community","tag-boxing-fights","tag-boxing-history","tag-boxing-interviews","tag-boxing-magazine","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxing-photos","tag-boxing-rankings","tag-boxing-schedule","tag-boxing-videos","tag-boxing-results","tag-disqualification","tag-draw","tag-fight","tag-fighter","tag-fighter-news","tag-knockout","tag-latest-boxing-matches","tag-ring","tag-ring-magazine","tag-split-decision","tag-sports","tag-technical-knockout","tag-the-ring","tag-top-fighters","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}