The World Boxing Council (WBC) has proven in the past not to be above favoritism, and that trend appears to be continuing this year as the sanctioning body appeared open to positioning Deontay Wilder as the next challenger for WBC bridgerweight champion Lawrence Okolie.
British champion Lawrence Okolie (20-1, 15 KO’s) attained the WBC bridgerweight (200-224 lbs) title on May 24th after stopping then-WBC champion Polish Lukasz Rozanski (15-1, 14 KO’s) in just the first round of their title bout.
Okolie’s path going forward is still not entirely certain, but if he were to stay at bridgerweight he would likely need to face off against the #1 WBC bridgerweight contender, South African fighter Kevin Lerena (30-3, 14 KO’s) who would be regarded as the WBC mandatory challenger after his November 2023 win over German heavyweight Senad Gashi (28-4, 27 KO’s).
It is not known if Lerena is still regarded as the WBC bridgerweight mandatory after he lost earlier this year on March 8th against Australian heavyweight (200+ lbs) contender Justis Huni (9-0, 4 KO’s) in a contest that was officially ruled a heavyweight title bout. However, given Lerena’s fight occurred at heavyweight and the bridgerweight is supposed to be a different division, there is still every bit the chance of the WBC ordering a bout between Lerena and Okolie.
Whether this fight will actually occur now seems to be in the hands of former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KO’s)―who is coming off a June 1st stoppage loss to Chinese heavy-hitter Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KO’s)―according to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.
“I am sure that if Wilder wishes to fight the Bridgerweight champion the WBC would approve, but we have not received anything from our dear Deontay camp.“
Mauricio Sulaiman
As a heavyweight that has often weighed within the bridgerweight’s weight parameters of 200-224 lbs, Wilder might seem to be a suitable candidate for WBC bridgerweight champion Okolie to face but the assumption of Wilder heading into retirement sharply downmgrades the chances of this potential match-up.
Notably, WBC president Sulaiman seemed eager to offer Wilder an immediate world title fight, regardless of Wilder’s current two-match losing streak, his apparent disposition towards retiring, and the fact the WBC has already accommodated Wilder numerous times when glimpsing his career trajectory.
So far, the WBC has not appeared to have received any clear interest from Wilder or his camp for a bridgerweight title shot, which unfolds a clearer picture of the close relationship the WBC has/has had with Wilder throughout his boxing career, and the state of Wilder’s career where he might just truly be considering retiring from the sport altogether.
Given both Lerena and Wilder lost in their last fights, a final elimination1 match between the two would make a lot more sense, and actually help in breeding competitiveness within the relatively unrecognized bridgerweight division as the winner would be deserving of an opportunity by merit.
However, given Lawrence Okolie himself attained the opportunity to fight for the WBC bridgerweight title despite losing his last match and having never fought above 200 lbs prior to facing Rozanski, it is unlikely the bridgerweight can establish itself as a fully-recognized and legitimate division any time soon.
- ,matches that decide the mandatory challenger of a particular weight class and sanctioning body ↩︎
