Tony Yoka vs Lawrence Okolie Preview April 25th, 2026
Former WBC Bridgerweight and WBO Cruiserweight Champion Lawrence Okolie of England takes on former Olympic Super Heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka of France over in Yoka’s hometown of Paris this Saturday, April 25th. The 12-round heavyweight tilt, which is supposedly for the WBC Silver Title, can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Yoka last fought in December when he stopped Patrick Korte in just 117 seconds four his fourth straight win. Okolie last boxed on the same December card when he halted Ebenezer Tetteh in the second round.
Yoka vs Okolie Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Tony Yoka +260
- Lawrence Okolie -350
My Pick
The 33-year-old Yoka has basically flown under the radar since turning pro in 2017 and while he got off to a pretty good start by going 11-0 with 9 Ko’s he now sits at 15-3 with 12 Ko’s. He fought at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England and then beat Joe Joyce of England for the super heavyweight gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also defeated Croatia’s heavyweight hopeful Filip Hrgovic at the Games.
Yoka had also beaten Hrgovic and Joyce at the 2015 World Amateur Championships in Qatar on his way to the gold medal. There’s no doubt he was a fine amateur but he’s fought just 108 rounds as a pro and hasn’t really faced the upper echelon of the division as of yet. The reason for his lack of rounds is due to fact that he stopped nine of his first 11 opponents. However he then went the distance in three straight fights between May, 2022 and December, 2023 and lost them all. He was beaten by Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam and Ryad Merhy via a 10-round majority decision followed by two 10-round split decisions respectively.
He also went the distance earlier in his career against Jonathan Rice and Christian Hammer. Rice took him the six-round distance in Yoka’s second pro outing in 2017 and Hammer went 10 rounds with him in November, 2020. All but two of Yoka’s 18 opponents entered the ring with a winning record and he’s also stopped the likes of Travis Clark, Ali Baghouz, Cyril Leonet, Dave Allen, Alexander Dimitrenko, Michael Wallisch and Johann Duhaupas. Yoka gradually stepped up in class when taking on Takam and Bakole and struggled somewhat.
Yoka also had problems with Merhy, who is a former world champion but has bounced back with four consecutive victories, albeit against limited opposition. Yoka possesses more than enough power in his fists to stop most heavyweights as 80 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage including five of his last six. Yoka is certainly one of the new breed of big heavyweights out there as he measures 6-feet-7-inches tall with an 82-inch wingspan.
Okolie of London is also 33 years old and big and lanky at 6-feet-5-inches tall with an 82.5-inch reach. This gives him a two-inch height disadvantage against Yoka though but he does have a minimal half-inch edge in reach. Okolie carries around a fine record of 23-1 with 17 Ko’s and he has boxed 122 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017. So far he has also displayed impressive power as 73.9 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage but has gone the distance in four of his past seven 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 four fights ago, in May, 2023 when Chris Billam-Smith beat him by majority decision to take his Cruiserweight Title. Okolie was dropped three times against Billam-Smith and had two points deducted for holding. 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 fourth outing at heavyweight as his debut came in December, 2024 when he stopped Hussein Muhamed in 134 seconds to win the vacant WBC silver Heavyweight Title. Before turning pro, Okolie enjoyed a fine amateur career and won the 2016 AIBA European Olympic Qualification Event. Like Yoka, 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…
Yoka sure isn’t very well known as a former Olympic Super Heavyweight Champion due to poor marketing and the fact that he’s never fought outside of his homeland as a pro. It’s hard to figure him out as he has the size and power to be successful but can often be quite lacklustre in the ring even though he has a pretty good chin. Okolie has carried his power with him to heavyweight but he hasn’t really been in the greatest shape. He weighed 199 lbs in his last cruiserweight fight and has steadily put on the weight by coming in at 223, 261, 262 and then 271 lbs as a heavyweight. Both boxers scored early KO’s in their last fights but they fought limited opposition and may have come out of the bouts with some unwarranted confidence. This is a good, close matchup and it’s one that Yoka can win if he’s at his absolute best. Of course, we don’t know about that but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Yoka has the tools to pull off a close win.
Play: Yoka +260 @ BetOnline.ag
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Lawrence Okolie betting • Tony Yoka betting