Lawrence Okolie negotiates with two-time world heavyweight title challenger Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz. The former WBO cruiserweight champion (21-1, 16 KOs) is taking a slow approach to adapting to the heavyweight division.
Cuban Ortiz (34-3, 29 KOs) turns 46 on March 29, but is still dangerous because of his power, size and technical skills. His ring IQ and athletic ability are above the 6’5″ Okolie’s. If Ortiz lands on the uncoordinated ‘Sauce’ Okolie, he could knock him out and ruin his heavyweight ambitions.
Okolie vs. Ortiz In The Works
Okolie’s two heavyweight fights were against Hussein Muhamed and Lukasz Rozanski. Both of those guys were terrible and completely useless in developing Okolie in any real sense of tracking him down for a world title shot. However, if the idea is to feed Okolie tomato cans to make him look invincible, matching him against these types of fighters is the way to go.
In Lawrence’s last fight at cruiserweight, he was defeated by Chris Billiam-Smith, losing a 12-round majority decision on May 27, 2023. That fight was the writing on the wall for Okolie that his time as ‘champion’ was over at Cruiserweight. Okolie will not fare well with the talented new crop of fighters, Jai Opetaia and David Nyika. So he moved up to heavyweight to reinvent himself.
Ortiz is coming off a first-round knockout win over Francisco Cordero last January 13 in Colombia. “King Kong’ Ortiz had been inactive for two years before that after losing a close 12-round unanimous decision to the former world champion Andy Ruiz on September 14, 2022.
Ortiz gave Ruiz pure hell in that fight, frequently landing on the stocky 268-pounder. Had Ruiz not dropped Luiz in rounds two and seven, 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, who is now campaigning at heavyweight, is in talks to fight Luis Ortiz in the UK, a source told ESPN. Ortiz, 45, returned last January in a shake-off fight. It was his first fight since a competitive loss to Andy Ruiz in 2022.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) January 20, 2025
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