Lawrence Okolie-Kevin Lerena WBC Bridgerweight Title Fight Heads To Sept. 20 Purse Bid
The bridgerweight division has joined the purse bid festivities.
Reigning WBC titlist Lawrence Okolie and mandatory challenger Kevin Lerena are forced to go the auction route. The two sides reneged on a previous agreement, which drew the scorn of the sanctioning body—though to the delight of the #PurseBidHeads nation. A hearing will be held on Sept. 20 in London, on the eve of Riyadh Season’s debut in the U.K. market.
“The mandatory title fight must go back to a purse bid,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed on Friday. “The agreement originally made has fallen through.”
Per WBC rules, ten-percent of the highest accepted bid will be placed in escrow as a win bonus. Okolie (20-1, 15 knockouts) will receive the favorable end of a 70-30 split from the remaining balance.
Okolie knocked out Poland’s Lukasz Rozanski in the first round to win the title on May 26 in Rzeszow. “The Big Sauce” floored Rozanski (15-1, 14 KOs) three times to snatch the WBC bridgerweight title.
With the win, Okolie became a two-division titlist—for those who recognize the WBC-created weight class, anyway. The 2016 Great Britain Olympian previously held the WBO cruiserweight title. That reign ended in his first career defeat when he dropped a decision to Chris Billam-Smith last May in Bournemouth, England.
South Africa’s Lerena (30-3, 14 KOs) enters the title fight on the heels of a loss. It came at heavyweight, however, and in a credible showing. 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 nearly won the secondary WBA heavyweight title after he floored Dubois three times in the opening round of their Dec. 2022 battle. Dubois rallied to drop him twice en route to the stoppage win.
Lerena previously held the IBO cruiserweight title, a bigger deal in South Africa than in the rest of the world. The creation of the bridgerweight division was a perfect fit for him, as he’s too small for heavyweight. He outpointed Ryad Merhy in their WBC title eliminator last May 13 in Kempton Park, South Africa.
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