Lawrence Okolie’s Bold Move to Heavyweight: A New Era in Boxing

Lawrence Okolie’s Bold Move to Heavyweight: A New Era in Boxing

Lawrence Okolie is a big lad, and he has always been a big lad. On Saturday night, at Wembley Arena, he made his heavyweight debut in a boxing ring and knocked out Germany’s Hussein Muhamed in just 134 seconds of the first round. Okolie weighed in at a career-high, an astounding 18st 8lb (260lb).

Okolie is the latest former world cruiserweight champion to move up in weight, forget the diet, neglect the lock on the fridge and fight at a comfortable heaviness. He joins an elite gang, by the way.

“I was never happy at cruiserweight,” Okolie said. “I was always making weight and that meant I was worried about my legs in a long, hard fight.”