As Lawrence Okolie prepares for his upcoming fight against Łukasz Różański on May 24 for the WBC bridgeweight title, he believes a victory could lead him to bigger fights with bigger prizes. Okolie expects to eventually work his way up to the heavyweight division, and he has faith there a fight with Dillian Whyte would make a lot of sense.

“Dillian Whyte is back,” Okolie said Heavenly sports. “Obviously everyone knows that I’ve wanted this fight since I was Commonwealth and British champion, so I definitely have this fight on my mind. Plus, we’ll see what the landscape looks like.”

Okolie, who previously fought at cruiserweight, believes a move up to bridgeweight will suit him better and bring out the best in him, especially under novel trainer Joe Gallagher.

“It came at the right time. Recent weight category, novel energy, novel coach. I’m ready to take the bridgeweight scene by storm, and then the heavyweight scene,” he said.

The 31-year-old London fighter most recently suffered a majority decision defeat to Chris Billam-Smith last May and suggests winning the title in the upcoming fight will prepare him for a rematch at a higher weight, minus Whyte.

However, before any of these fights become a reality, Okolie will need to perform well in the upcoming show.

Oscar Valdez and Liam Wilson will fight for the WBO interim super featherweight title on Friday, something that has likely been in the works for some time and is now official.

Emanuel Navarrete holds the WBO 130-pound title, but is scheduled to advance to fight Denys Berinchyk for the vacant WBO lightweight title in May.

If Navarrete wins the 135-pound belt in May and decides that’s the division he’s staying in, then the Valdez-Wilson winner will be elevated from interim to full champion status, at the sanctioning body’s discretion.

In other words, this is actually a perfectly reasonable transitional situation for the WBO, essentially moving something forward six weeks.

Now, if Navarrete won in May and decided not to stay at 135, or lost to Berinchyk and decided to drop to 130 to defend his title, the Valdez-Wilson winner would be in line to face him again.

Valdez (31-2, 23 KO) and Wilson (13-2, 7 KO) lost to Navarrete in 2023. Wilson was stopped in the ninth round of a highly competitive fight in February, while Valdez suffered a decision loss to Navarrete in August.

At this point, Valdez is a -350 betting favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook, with Wilson at +265. These are quite competitive odds for the average major boxing event.

Friday’s show, which will air exclusively on ESPN+, will also feature an undisputed women’s 105-pound championship clash between Seniesa Estrada and Yokasta Valle.

This is Frank Smith from Matchroom ESPN that Regis Prograis is an incredible fight for Dalton Smith, fresh off a win over Jose Zepeda last weekend, and while he’s certainly on the table, he’s not the only option for Smith at this point.

However, Matchroom still has Prograis under contract and believes a fight between Smith and Prograis would go a long way towards establishing Smith as a true world-class player.

“Let’s see where he goes in the rankings to see how far he is from a world title shot, but Regis Prograis is a great fight, it would be an amazing fight,” Frank Smith told ESPN. “We also represent Regis, but that would show the level Dalton Smith is at. But there are still many substantial fights ahead of us, let’s see.”

Smith has established himself on the British scene, but doesn’t deny that this is a dream opportunity for him to be able to cross the Atlantic and take part in some substantial fights in the States.

After Dalton Smith’s victory last weekend, Smith challenged Adam Azim to a fight, but now their team believes that Azim is not very keen on making it happen considering how good Smith just looked in the ring.

“I think the reality is what they are [Azim’s team] I wanted to see how Saturday would go and I was hoping he would lose, but he ended up coming out spectacularly, which makes him even more reluctant to fight,” said Frank Smith.

So it appears that if a fight with Azim is not possible or not arranged in the near future, Matchroom and Smith will turn their attention elsewhere, and a fight against the former world champion in Prograis may be the right move to continue growing his stock.