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Okolie names two-man shortlist for his next fight after Usyk-Dubois undercard win
Lawrence Okolie has revealed who he is aiming to fight next as he bids to become a three-weight world champion.
The former cruiserweight and bridgerweight champion claimed a lopsided points win over Kevin Lerena on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight clash with Daniel Dubois at Wembley.
He is currently No 1 in the WBC’s heavyweight rankings and is one of a number of fighters hoping for a shot at Usyk in the near future.
But Okolie has his sights set on two other contenders before taking on the heavyweight king.
Asked who he would ideally like to face next, Okolie told Sky Sports: “It would be [Agit] Kabayel. He’s the only person who’s higher ranked than me with the WBC.”Leigh Dawney/Queensberry
Kabayel is unbeaten and currently holds the WBC interim belt after knocking out Zhilei Zhang in his last fight.
Okolie is also eyeing a domestic dust-up with Fabio Wardley. His fellow Brit came from behind to stop Justis Huni last month, and Okolie believes the two knockout artists would produce an exciting fight.
“Aside from [Kabayel], 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.”
Okolie suffered a torn bicep in the early stages of his fight with Lerena, but still did enough to get his hand raised as he maintained his perfect record at heavyweight.
He will now need time to recover from his arm injury, yet he's already looking ahead to future fights in boxing’s blue-riband division.
Okolie has only lost one of his 23 professional fights when he was beaten by Chris Billam-Smith in 2023.
The 2016 Olympian has since bounced back to secure three straight wins.
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