Lawrence Okolie has relinquished the WBC bridgerweight title to campaign in the heavyweight division.

Okolie won the much-maligned championship when he knocked out Poland's Lukasz Rozanski in one round as recently as May. "After much consideration it is with a heavy heart that I have to unfortunately relinquish the WBC bridgerweight while respectfully requesting to be rated in the top five in the heavyweight division," Okolie stated. 

Okolie, a former sparring partner of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois, moved up to bridgerweight after losing his WBO cruiserweight belt to Chris Billam-Smith in May 2023. It was while at cruiser he often stated his intention to eventually reside at heavyweight. M

The bridgerweight class was introduced by the WBC in 2020, with the sanctioning body citing a requirement for a division to bridge the gap between cruiserweight and heavyweight. That isn't where the name came from, however. It was in fact named after six-year-old Bridger Walker who saved his sister from a stray dog in July 2020.

Though the weight class has struggled for relevancy, the WBA introduced their own 'super cruiserweight' belt in 2023. The weight limit is 224lbs.

The WBC have announced that Kevin Lerena, previously the interim titlist, has been installed as Okolie's successor.