Sources close to No Smoke Boxing indicate that British heavyweights Lawrence Okolie (21-1, 16KO) and Dillian Whyte (31-3, 21KO) have agreed to face each other in 2025.
Although no official contract has been signed, it appears increasingly likely that fight fans will finally see the two long-time rivals square off.
Whyte is set to return to action on June 7th on the undercard of Fabio Wardley and Justis Huni in a warm-up contest ready for his clash with Okolie later this year.
‘The Body Snatcher’ last stepped into the ring in December, securing a seventh-round stoppage after Ghana’s Ebenezer Tetteh retired in his corner.
The win extended 37-year-old Whyte’s unbeaten streak to three, with his last defeat coming in April 2022 when he was stopped by Tyson Fury in a bid for the WBC heavyweight title.
Okolie is riding the momentum of back-to-back first-round stoppage victories over Łukasz Różański and Hussein Muhamed, which earned the 32-year-old the WBC bridgerweight world title and the WBC heavyweight Silver title, respectively.
Lawrence Okolie And Dillian Whyte Share Historic Rivalry
While they’ve yet to trade punches in the ring, Lawrence Okolie and Dillian Whyte’s rivalry has played out publicly across social media, where sharp insults and personal digs have kept tensions boiling.
Rumors have circulated about past sparring sessions between the two, with conflicting stories about who came out on top. While neither fighter has confirmed the details, the speculation has only added fuel to their ongoing war of words.
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Okolie claimed that Whyte has no real interest in fighting him and accused the heavyweight of merely playing up to the cameras.
“He’s a coward as simple as that. In front of the camera Dillian is the type of person who goes on about he’s about this, I’m getting point blank he does not want the Okolie fight.”
