By G9ija
Lawrence Okolie has stated that he is “realistic” about the chances of him fighting Anthony Joshua in the future.
Okolie, 30, will make the third defence of his WBO cruiserweight title when he takes on David Light at the AO Arena in Manchester on March 25.
The WBO cruiserweight champion, who was previously represented by Joshua’s management firm 285 MGT, recently signed a multi-fight deal with BOXXER following his acrimonious departure from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing earlier this year.
Okolie has openly flirted with the idea of moving up to heavyweight, having repeatedly expressed his frustration with the current state of the cruiserweight division.
But he rated his chances of fighting AJ as slim at best as he admitted his mother wouldn’t agree to it anyway.
Speaking exclusively to GiveMeSport.com, he said: “Yeah it is pretty much still the case until me and him have had a different kind of conversation.
“But right now it’s all good. There’s still loads of big heavyweight fights out there. I think you know unfortunately he is no longer a world champion which creates a different dynamic.
“And, you know, I like to be quite realistic when it comes to boxing. And I think that you know the current crop of world champions are all 34, 35, 36. Not that much older than myself but old enough that they will be out of the game in the next year or two.
“And then it’s for all of the young bucks to have a big scramble to see what’s what. I might pick off a young buck, I might pick off an old boy we don’t know, but I’m going to pick some people off.”
Okolie meanwhile has made some changes to his training camp during his recent period of inactivity, most notably replacing former trainer Shane McGuigan with SugarHill Steward.
McGuigan has been in Okolie’s corner for his last eight fights, but he insisted that it was time for a change.
He added: “Obviously I’ve watched Emanuel Steward, I’ve watched SugarHill and I’ve seen how they sort of work with tall, long fighters.
“I’ve seen it with Tyson Fury, Andy Lee and Adonis Stevenson, just to name a few. They find a way of making fighters just a little bit more clinical. So I like that kind of energy that he brings to boxing.
“Obviously I sparred Tyson Fury before the first Deontay Wilder fight, and I saw the transition that he made in number two and three and I said, you know, I’d like a bit of that.
“So that’s some of the main reasons.”
Okolie fights David Light for the WBO world cruiserweight title at AO Arena in Manchester on March 25.