Lawrence Okolie vs Kevin Lerena Preview July 19th, 2025
Former WBC Bridgerweight and WBO Cruiserweight Champion Lawrence Okolie of England takes on Kevin Lerena of South Africa in this Saturday, July 19th. The 12-round bout is for Okolie’s WBC Silver Heavyweight Title which he won last December when he stopped Hussein Muhamed in just 134 seconds. The fight from Wembley Stadium in London, England can be seen live on DAZN pay-per-view on the undercard of the Usyk vs Dubois heavyweight showdown. Lerena last saw action in May when he halted Serhiy Radchenko in the third round to defend the WBC Bridgerweight (224 lbs) Title. He won the interim belt with a unanimous decision over Senad Gashi in November, 2023 and was made the full champion when Okolie vacated the belt to move up to heavyweight.
Okolie vs Lerena Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Kevin Lerena +167
- Lawrence Okolie -220
My Pick
Lerena is a 33-year-old southpaw who climbs through the ropes with a mark of 31-3 with 15 Ko’s and has boxed 232 rounds since making his pro debut in 2011. He measures 6-feet-1-inch with a 74-inch reach and as far as power goes, he’s just below average as 48.4 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage. Just one of his last five wins have been by stoppage. However he did drop current IBF Champion Daniel Dubois three times in the first round in 2022 before being halted by TKO in the third round.
The first defeat on Lerena’s pro record came at the hands of Johnny Muller in 2014 by way of a 10-round unanimous decision. He was then stopped by Dubois and he also dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Justis Huni in March, 2024 in a shot at the vacant WBO Global Heavyweight Title. Lerena’s biggest wins have come against Muller in a rematch as well as Senad Gashi, Ryad Merhy, Roberto Bolonti, Micki Nielson, Youri Kalenga, Dmytro Kucher, Artur Mann, Sefer Seferi, Firat Arslan, Bogdan Dinu and Mariusz Wach.
Lerena may be relatively unknown in most parts of the world but is an accomplished boxer with fine skills. Since turning pro, he’s also won the vacant WBA Inter-Continental Heavyweight Belt as well as the WBC Youth Silver, WBF African, South African and Pan African Cruiserweight Titles. He also captured the vacant IBO World Cruiserweight Title, which he then defended six times before moving up to the heavyweight division.
Okolie of London is 32 years old and big and lanky at 6-feet-5-inches tall with an 82.5-inch reach. This gives him a four-inch height advantage over Lerena as well as 8.5-inches in reach. Okolie carries around a fine record of 21-1 with 16 Ko’s and has boxed 110 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017. So far he has displayed impressive power as 76.2 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage but has gone the distance in three of his past five fights.
He won the vacant WBA Continental Cruiserweight Title in 2018 via a 10-round unanimous decision over Isaac Chamberlain. Okolie then added the Commonwealth Crown a few months later by stopping Luke Watkins in the third round. He’s also beaten Matty Askin and Wadi Camacho to add the British Title and hoisted the European Cruiserweight Belt in October, 2019 with a seventh-round TKO of Yves Ngabu. He stepped up in class earlier in 2020 when he met Glowacki and passed the test with flying colours.
Okolie suffered his lone pro defeat three fights ago, in May, 2023 when Chris Billam-Smith beat him by majority decision to take his Cruiserweight Title. He had won the vacant belt in 2021 by stopping Glowacki in the sixth round and then stopped Dilan Prasovic in the third round in his first defence followed by unanimous decisions over Michal Cieslak and David Light before losing to Billam-Smith. Okolie then faced Lukasz Rozanski in for the WBC Bridgerweight Belt and stopped him just 175 seconds.
This will be Okolie’s second fight at heavyweight as his debut came in his last outing when he stopped Muhamed. Before turning pro, Okolie enjoyed a fine amateur career and won the 2016 AIBA European Olympic Qualification Event. He boxed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he beat Igor Jakubowski of Poland and lost to Erislandy Savon of Cuba. Okolie also boxed in the World Series of Boxing in 2016 for Britain and was beaten by Erislandy Savon again.
Prediction…
Lerena has faced some decent opponents during his career but he’s giving up a lot of height and reach against Okolie, meaning he’ll need to work his way inside to be effective. Okolie has a habit of clinching and was deducted a point in both the fifth and seventh rounds when losing his cruiserweight title to Billam-Smith. Also, he was dropped in the fourth, 10th and 11th rounds in that fight so Lerena does have a chance here. I’m expecting Lerena to put up a good fight here but to ultimately fall short in the end.
Okolie possesses better power and skills.
Play: Okolie -220 @ BetOnline.ag
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Kevin Lerena betting • Lawrence Okolie betting