Okolie moves to heavyweight

Lawrence Okolie vacated his “bridgerweight” belt ahead of a purse bid with Kevin Lerena

After allegedly agreeing to defend his “bridgerweight” title against interim champ Kevin Lerena and subsequently heading to a purse bid instead, Lawrence Okolie has officially vacated the belt and confirmed a move to heavyweight.

As Jake Donovan points out, this makes Okolie (20-1, 15 KO) the third consecutive WBC “bridgerweight” titlist to ditch the belt without a defense. We’ll see if the newly upgraded Lerena bucks the trend.

“The Sauce” snapped a career-long three-fight finish drought by taking Lukasz Rozanski behind the woodshed in May. He has the size and skill to be a contender at heavyweight, but he also had the size and skill to reign atop the cruiserweight division for ages and pissed it away through lack of commitment.