Lawrence Okolie negotiates with two-time 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 he is still dangerous with his strength, size and technical skills. His rounded IQ and athletic ability are higher than the 6’5″ Okolie’s. If Ortiz lands on Okolie's uncoordinated “sauce,” it could knock him out and ruin his heavyweight ambitions.
Okolie vs. Ortiz is in the works
Okolie's two heavyweight fights were against Hussein Muhammad and Lukasz Rozanski. Both men have been terrible and completely useless in developing Okolie in the true sense of promoting him for a world title shot. However, if the idea is to feed Okolie with cans of tomatoes to make him appear invincible, then facing him with this type of fighter is the perfect solution.
In Lawrence's last fight at cruiserweight, he was crushed 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 a lightweight “champ” was over. Cruiser weight. Okolie will not do well with the new talented group of fighters, Jai Opetaia and David Nyika. Then, he moved up to heavyweight to reinvent himself.
Ortiz is coming off a first-round knockout win over Francisco Cordero last year on Jan. 13 in Colombia. “King Kong' Ortiz had been inactive for two years prior to this after losing via 12-round unanimous decision to the former world champion Andy Ruiz On September 14, 2022.
Ortiz gave Ruiz pure hell in that fight, repeatedly landing the 268-pounder. Had Ruiz not dropped 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, who is now campaigning at heavyweight, is in talks to fight Luis Ortiz in the UK, a source told ESPN. Ortiz (45 years old) returned last January in a battle to shake off the rust. This was his first fight since a competitive loss to Andy Ruiz in 2022.
– Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) January 20, 2025
