Lawrence Okolie is a world champion once more after defeating Polish WBC bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski in his hometown within one single round by technical knockout (TKO). The two fighters headlined on Friday, May 24th, at the Hala na Podpromi in Rzeszow―Rozanski’s home town, Poland.
With his victory, Lawrence Okolie (20-1, 15 KO’s) broke his two-year run without a knockout (KO) or stoppage victory, even more impressively doing so on foreign sole in a stadium located in the city where Lukasz Rozanski (15-1, 14 KO’s) was born and raised―culminating in Okolie winning the WBC bridgerweight title held by Rozanski.
Contrary to his last couple of matches, including a very disappointing performance during his last fight in 2023 where he lost to British rival Chris Billam-Smith (19-1, 13 KO’s), Okolie brought back the destructiveness that he was known for during the beginning of his professional career.
Rozanski, though eager to fight in the pocket and engage with the taller British fighter, found himself quickly outboxed as Okolie used his reach to the fullest, in addition to incorporating the clinching and holding he has been notorious for to wear down the Polish fighter quickly. Roughly one minute into the match, Okolie caught Rozanski with a hard right-handed counter that dropped Rozanski―who managed to beat the count of 10 but saw any fortune he might have had change swiftly.
It took less than half a minute for Okolie to score a second knockdown after managing to corner Rozanski in the ropes, forcing the Polish fighter to spend the remaining rounds avoiding Okolie rather than engaging with him directly―as he had done during the start of the fight. With just 5 seconds left on the clock, Okolie ended the match with a third knockdown and right hand that once more sent Rozanski into the rounds.
Though amazingly Rozanski still managed to stand up, the referee stopped the match after ascertaining Rozanski’s mental state and determining him to be incapable of continuing to fight. Okolie won the match as a result by TKO, conquering the WBC bridgerweight title in the process.
It was an excellent showing for Okolie who also took his first steps into venturing into the heavyweight division by weighing into the fight at approximately 223 lbs. However, despite his success, there will be little for Okolie to truly accomplish at the recently-established bridgerweight division where there is no significant competition, and only one other belt [WBA] to win. The division is also not widely recognized, and despite the availability of the WBC world title, the sanctioning body is not considered the most reputable organization.
Highly likely, Okolie’s next course of action will see him continue as a heavyweight; with the chances of him going back down to cruiserweight unlikely given he seemed more comfortable at a higher weight and would have to lose a substantial number of pounds to compete in that weight class.
A potential heavyweight run would be dangerous for Lawrence Okolie, with there being plenty of talented hard-hitters who can pose multiple problems for the British champion, but there have been multiple cases of former cruiserweights venturing into successful careers at heavyweight, most prominently Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s) who rose to the pinnacle of the sport last week by becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion.
