Lawrence Okolie eyes fight that has ‘got to happen’ with British rival Fabio Wardley

Okolie sits at No 1 with the WBC at heavyweight, placing him firmly in title contention

Two-division world champion Lawrence Okolie believes he is on a collision course with fellow British heavyweight Fabio Wardley, describing a potential bout between the two a “guaranteed fight”.

Okolie is rated at number one by the World Boxing Council (WBC), whilst Wardley is the World Boxing Association’s (WBA) interim champion at heavyweight.

As such, the two Brits are firmly in contention for a world title shot. After missing out on a fight with Dillian Whyte, who will now face Moses Itauma later this month, Okolie is targeting Whyte’s protege, Wardley.

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Asked by The Ring if he would be interested in facing Wardley, Okolie responded: “Definitely. I think me and him, if, God willing, we keep winning, it’s a guaranteed fight that’s got to happen.

“If you talk about what he’s done, he’s done well – he's done really well in his last fight. He showed a lot in that fight. Obviously, I wanted the Dillian Whyte fight, that didn’t 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.”

Wardley last fought at the start of June, salvaging a win in front of his home crowd in Ipswich by knocking out Justis Huni in the 10th round.

Okolie’s most recent fight was in July, on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Daniel Dubois for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. The 32-year-old managed to defeat Kevin Lerena despite injuring his bicep early into the bout.

That was just Okolie’s second fight at heavyweight, having moved up from cruiserweight and bridgerweight, divisions where he won the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and WBC titles respectively.

As such, Okolie is eyeing up further fights in boxing’s biggest divisions, including WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Another name that came up in conversation was Tony Yoka, the 2016 Olympic gold medallist at super-heavyweight.

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But Okolie is unconvinced that the Frenchman would be interested in such a bout. He said: “I’m sure if they offered him the fight, he’d be another person that would say no to it. I don’t know why, I just get that feeling from him.

“I don’t know with him. I think he’s probably just someone waiting around maybe for an AJ [Anthony Joshua] fight. I don’t know what it is about him, but I don’t really get the vibe he wants to fight anyone. But we’ll see over the coming months.”

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