Ben Shalom has given his full backing to Lawrence Okolie despite admitting that he has picked up a few "bad habits" as of late.

The former WBO cruiserweight champion signed with Shalom's promotional outfit BOXXER last December, only to lose his belt to former sparring partner Chris Billam-Smith in a stunning upset earlier this year. 

Since then, he has kept a fairly low profile away from the spotlight, apart from a few social media posts here and there.

With Billam-Smith set to make the first defence of his title against Mateusz Masternak next month, it leaves his next move uncertain, with no word on a potential return to the ring.

However, while Shalom accepts that Okolie has a lot of work to do to reclaim his old belt, he insists that he hasn't given up on him just yet.

"I think one thing we have to remember is that it is a sport," Shalom told krikya360.com. 

"I still believe in Lawrence, he is an elite athlete, and the most gifted cruiserweight there is out there. But he has got into some bad habits - there's no shying away from that. So he wants to go back to the drawing board.

"He's still only 30 years old, he's got an extremely successful career ahead of him, both at cruiserweight and at heavyweight, we're delighted he's with us, and we're hoping he can come back with a bang."

Okolie activated the rematch clause in his contract following the defeat, but Shalom has now confirmed the possibility that he could have a warm-up fight first before running it back with Billam-Smith. 

"For me and I think for Lawrence after a performance you're not happy with you want to make adjustments," he added. 

"He'll fight for his world title early next year. But it meant that we needed a big fight for December. It's going to be a special night in Bournemouth. 

"For Masternak, this is his last chance to win a world title. We know the danger that he brings. He's had more knockouts than Chris has had fights."