Lawrence Okolie is negotiating with two-time world heavyweight title challenger Luis “King Kong” Ortiz. The former WBO cruiserweight champion (21-1, 16 KOs) is slowly adjusting to the heavyweight division.
Cuban Ortiz (34-3, 29 KOs) turns 46 on March 29 but is still dangerous due to his strength, size and technical ability. His ring IQ and athletic ability are above the 6’5″ Okolie. 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 bouts came against Hussein Muhamed and Lukasz Rozanski. Both guys were terrible and completely useless in developing Okolie in the real sense to prepare him for a world title. However, if the idea is to feed Okolie cans of tomatoes to make him look invincible, pitting 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. This fight was the writing on the wall for Okolie that his time as “champion” was up at cruiserweight. Okolie would not get along well with talented new fighters Jai Opetaia and David Nyika. So he moved up to heavyweight to reinvent himself.
Ortiz earned a first-round knockout victory over Francisco Cordero in Colombia last year on Jan. 13. “King Kong’ Ortiz had previously been inactive for two years after losing a narrow 12-round unanimous decision to the former world champion Andy Ruiz on September 14, 2022.
Ortiz gave Ruiz hell in this fight, often landing on the chunky 268-pounder. If Ruiz hadn’t dropped Luiz in rounds two and seven, the Cuban would have won. In Ortiz’s last fight on January 1, 2022, he knocked out former heavyweight champion Charles Martin in the sixth round.
Former cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie, who now fights at heavyweight, is in talks to fight Luis Ortiz in the United Kingdom, a source tells ESPN. Ortiz, 45, returned last January in a fight that was all about survival. It was his first fight since a competitive loss to Andy Ruiz in 2022.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) January 20, 2025
