Lawrence Okolie and Kevin Lerena pay tribute to the #PurseBidHeads as their WBC bridgerweight title battle heads to a Sept. 20 listening to. Picture credit score: WBC Boxing
The bridgerweight division has joined the purse bid festivities.
Reigning WBC titlist Lawrence Okolie and obligatory challenger Kevin Lerena are compelled to go the public sale route. The 2 sides reneged on a earlier settlement, which drew the scorn of the sanctioning physique—although to the delight of the #PurseBidHeads nation. A listening to can be held on Sept. 20 in London, on the eve of Riyadh Season’s debut within the U.Okay. market.
“The obligatory title battle should return to a handbag bid,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed on Friday. “The settlement initially made has fallen by.”
Per WBC guidelines, ten-percent of the very best accepted bid can be positioned in escrow as a win bonus. Okolie (20-1, 15 knockouts) will obtain the favorable finish of a 70-30 break up from the remaining stability.
Okolie knocked out Poland’s Lukasz Rozanski in the primary spherical to win the title on Might 26 in Rzeszow. “The Huge Sauce” floored Rozanski (15-1, 14 KOs) thrice to grab the WBC bridgerweight title.
With the win, Okolie turned a two-division titlist—for individuals who acknowledge the WBC-created weight class, anyway. The 2016 Nice Britain Olympian beforehand held the WBO cruiserweight title. That reign resulted in his first profession defeat when he dropped a call to Chris Billam-Smith final Might in Bournemouth, England.
South Africa’s Lerena (30-3, 14 KOs) enters the title battle on the heels of a loss. It got here at heavyweight, nevertheless, and in a reputable exhibiting. The 32-year-old southpaw was outpointed by unbeaten heavyweight Justis Huni on the March 8 Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou card in Riyadh.
It snapped a two-fight win streak after a third-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois. Lerena practically received the secondary WBA heavyweight title after he floored Dubois thrice within the opening spherical of their Dec. 2022 battle. Dubois rallied to drop him twice en path to the stoppage win.
Lerena beforehand held the IBO cruiserweight title, an even bigger deal in South Africa than in the remainder of the world. The creation of the bridgerweight division was an ideal match for him, as he’s too small for heavyweight. He outpointed Ryad Merhy of their WBC title eliminator final Might 13 in Kempton Park, South Africa.
