Lawrence Okolie is in talks with two-time world heavyweight title challenger Luis 'King Kong' Ortiz. The former WBO cruiserweight champion (21-1, 16 KOs) is slowly getting used to the heavyweight division.
Cuban Ortiz (34-3, 29 KOs) turns 46 on March 29, but is still dangerous because of his strength, size and technical skills. His ring IQ and athletic ability are above the 6’5″ Okolie. If Ortiz lands on an uncoordinated 'Sauce' Okolie, he could knock him out and destroy his heavyweight ambitions.
Okolie vs. Ortiz ongoing
Okolie had two fights in the heavyweight division against Hussein Muhamed and Lukasz Rozanski. Both of them were terrible and completely useless in developing Okolie in any real sense to push him for a world title shot. However, if the idea is to feed Okolie canned tomatoes to make him look invincible, he's the right choice against these types of fighters.
In Lawrence's last fight at cruiserweight, he was defeated by Chris Billiam-Smith, losing by majority decision over 12 rounds on May 27, 2023. That fight was the writing on the wall for Okolie that his time as the Cruiserweight 'champion' was up. Okolie would not fare well with the talented new generation of fighters, Jai Opetaia and David Nyika. So he moved up to heavyweight to reinvent himself.
Ortiz is coming off a first-round knockout victory over Francisco Cordero last January 13 in Colombia. “King Kong' Ortiz had been inactive for two years prior to that after losing a close 12-round unanimous decision to the former world champion Andy Ruiz September 14, 2022
Ortiz made Ruiz hell in that fight, often landing on the stocky 268-pounder. If Ruiz had not knocked out Luiz in the second and seventh rounds, the Cuban would have won. In Ortiz's previous fight on January 1, 2022, he knocked out former heavyweight champion Charles Martin in the sixth round.
Former cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie, now campaigning at heavyweight, is in talks to fight Luis Ortiz in the UK, a source told ESPN. Ortiz, 45, returned last January to shake off the rust. It was his first fight since a competitive loss to Andy Ruiz in 2022.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) January 20, 2025
