THERE has been a hold up making the Lawrence Okolie versus Isaac Chamberlain fight for February 3 at the O2 next year.

The London cruiserweights have an escalating rivalry and have had a couple of heated run ins. Promoter Eddie Hearn wants to make that fight for next year but so far Chamberlain’s team have not accepted the offer.

“They both got offered the same deal, Lawrence accepted it and Isaac didn’t, maybe not Isaac but Ted Bami and the team didn’t,” Hearn said.

Lawrence Okolie versus Isaac Chamberlain

“I think some people think that it’ll sell out the O2. It won’t. It will sell out York Hall. It’s a big early domestic fight. People say maybe you should wait, but maybe one of them gets beat. I think now’s the time to make the fight. Unfortunately at the moment it doesn’t look like we can get it over the line. Lawrence may fight that Luke Watkins for the Commonwealth title on February 3. I’m hoping this week we can make some progress on the Chamberlain side. But unfortunately it’s not happening at the moment,” he explained.

“He’s rejected the offer. I wanted to be fair to both of them. It’s a lot of money for what it is. It’s a 10 round contest.”

Okolie is in action tonight (December 13) at York Hall in London.