Lawrence Okolie has three-point plans to fight Daniel Dubois for heavyweight world title unification.
First, Okolie must beat 2016 Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka at Paris Boxing on April 25.
The win leaves Okolie as the WBC’s No. 1 ranked heavyweight contender, behind interim titlist and Oleksandr Usyk’s mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel.
If Usyk fails to defend his overall WBC title against Kabayel, Okolie expects to box the German in that world championship.
Usyk has not defended his WBO belt against mandatory challenger Fabio Wardley and is currently facing kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven in a crossover contest.
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Former two-division champion Lawrence Okolie has backed Daniel Dubois to beat Fabio Wardley in a WBO heavyweight title fight and is eyeing a future bout with his former gym mate.
“Everyone is going to have to force this. Agit’s team, our team, all of us are going to have to force a stance and hope the WBC does the right thing,” Okolie said. sky sports.
“Usyk has to fight (Kabayel) and let him box him at the right time and if he doesn’t agree, strip him and then let him box whoever he wants at the end of the year and then we’ll box him for a world title in the fall.
“So I really want to win Yoka and win well, because I know what’s coming at the end of it. So I just have to get it done.”
He thinks Daniel Dubois will win the WBO title by beating Fabio Wardley in May, and Okolie expects to box Dubois to win the heavyweight world championship.
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Chris Billam-Smith admits potential fights with former opponents Lawrence Okolie and Deontay Wilder could tempt him to move up in the cruiserweight division.
Okolie said of Dubois: “I’ve sparred with him a lot. I’ve been sparring with him since my days in England. We’ve had countless rounds.” “My goal is to win in France, win in Germany, win in England and be the king of them all.
“It’ll probably be me and Dan.”
He added: “I think Dubois will win because he has a lot more experience at the level and has beaten better fighters, and stylistically too, I think once they start trading Dan will definitely punch harder than Fabio, unless he is a lot faster than him, so I think he will probably hurt him.
“If they get Dan early and hard, we might be able to repeat some of the performances a few times, but I would prefer Dan in that fight.”
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Daniel Dubois refused to shake Fabio Wardley’s hand after facing him for the first time at his launch press conference ahead of the fight in May.
British Revenge
Okolie’s Olympic teammate Joe Joyce lost a controversial decision to Joka in the super heavyweight final at the Rio 2016 Olympics. He wants revenge.
“100 percent.” Okolie said. “Joe actually messaged me and said he would beat him up for me and he would do it. I watched that fight live and I was so disappointed.”
Even though Yoka will have the home advantage, Okolie’s confidence remains unchanged ahead of the contest.
“I want to see how he handles the pressure of the day, the cheers of the fans, the expectations, etc. When you have all that and a guy like me who knows at any moment that if I get you right, it’s going to hurt you, it’ll be interesting to see how it all boils together,” Okolie said.
“I guess in life there are winners and there are losers. I think I’m more of a winner than he is, so I expect to get this job done.”
Watch Caroline Dubois vs. Terri Harper bill live sky sports Sunday, April 5th.
