Lawrence Okolie

Lawrence Okolie (born 16 December 1992) is a British professional boxer who held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruiserweight title from 2021 to May 2023.

While watching Anthony Joshua fighting in the 2012 Summer Olympics super heavyweight final, Okolie decided to take boxing seriously and set a goal to make the 2016 Olympics.

He represented Team GB as a heavyweight at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

He beat Igor Pawel Jakubowski from Poland on points and made it to the Round of 16, where he lost to eventual bronze medalist Erislandy Savón of Cuba.

On 18 January 2017, Okolie announced his decision to turn professional, signing with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport to compete in the cruiserweight division.

His first professional fight took place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester on 25 March 2017.

It was on the undercard for the Jorge Linares vs. Anthony Crolla lightweight world championship fight.

His opponent was 33 year old Geoffrey Cave, who had a record of no wins and two losses.

The fight lasted 20 seconds and ended after Okolie landed two right hooks to the head of Cave.

The referee stopped the fight immediately.

His next bout took place in Glasgow, Scotland at The SSE Hydro on 15 April as part of the undercard for the world Ricky Burns vs. Julius Indongo super lightweight unification fight.

He fought 35 year old journeyman Lukasz Rusiewicz.

Okolie knocked Rusiewicz down twice in round one en route to a first-round stoppage.

The time of stoppage was 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

Okolie was scheduled to fight on the undercard of the mega heavyweight fight Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko on 29 April at the Wembley Stadium in London.

On 25 April, it was announced that he would fight Russell Henshaw (7–4, 2 KOs), who he was supposed to fight on his debut.

On the night, Okolie tweeted that he would no longer be fighting on the undercard.

The reason for this was due to Wembley council having a curfew of 11:00pm and the main event was due to start at 10:00pm.

The other fights on the undercard went longer than expected.

Okolie fought on the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr.. IBF world title undercard at Bramall Lane in Sheffield on 27 May, defeating Rudolf Helesic in the first round.

Helesic was knocked down twice prior to the stoppage.

On 1 July, Okolie recorded his fourth straight first-round stoppage win against Russell Henshaw.

The fight was stopped after 2 minutes and 10 seconds into the round.

It was announced that Okolie would appear on the NXTGEN card on 1 September 2017, at the York Hall in London.

Other prospects on the card included Conor Benn and fellow Olympians Joshua Buatsi and Joe Cordina.

Okolie went the six-round distance for the first time in his career against Blaise Mendouo.

He lost one round on the referee's scorecard, winning 59–54.

Okolie was also taken past the first round for the first time in his professional career.

In round four, Mendouo was dropped by a big right hand.

Following the win, Okolie spoke to Sky Sports about going the distance, "It was useful to go the rounds, but was tough against an awkward opponent. It was a little bit scrappy, I couldn't get the rhythm of my opponent. I knew that this guy would be a lot more difficult than some of the other cruiserweight prospects."

Okolie next fought on 28 October on the Anthony Joshua vs. Carlos Takam undercard at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

His opponent was 36 year old Adam Williams.

Okolie stopped Williams in the third round, extending his unbeaten record.

Okolie next fought on 13 December 2017, closing off his first year as a professional at the York Hall in London.

His opponent was Antonio Sousa in a six-round bout.

At regional level, he held the Commonwealth title twice between 2018 and 2019; the British title from 2018 to 2019; and the European title in 2019.

As of July 2022, he is ranked as the world's second best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine third by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and BoxRec.

Okolie is a supporter of BoxWise, a UK-based non-profit social enterprise based around boxing.

Okolie was born in Hackney, London to Nigerian parents of Igbo descent.

He grew up in Stoke Newington and attended Stoke Newington School.