Kevin Lerena is honoured to be featuring in another marquee event this month, and his trainer-manager Colin Nathan feels the WBC bridgerweight champion has an 'outstanding' chance to unseat highly-ranked heavyweight contender Lawrence Okolie on July 19.

Although he won't be at Wembley in person, instead with unbeaten titleholder Phumelele Cafu before his WBO/WBC junior bantamweight unification against Jesse Rodriguez in Dallas, Texas later that same night, Nathan would love an unlikely double delight.

He told South African daily newspaper SowetanLive: "Kevin must break his [Okolie] rhythm and range early in the fight, rough him up and not allow him to set his feet, get his jab going.

"He has an outstanding chance to win this contest, and it's the right fight for him at this stage of his career."

Okolie will defend his WBC Silver title against Lerena in the chief support bout preceding WBA, WBO, WBC and Ring heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) facing IBF titleholder Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) for undisputed status in their rematch.

Okolie (21-1, 16 KOs), sits at No. 1 in the WBC rankings after becoming a two-division titleholder last year with a first-round finish of 15-0 Lukasz Rozanski in Rzeszow, Poland, ending a year-long layoff having lost his cruiserweight crown to Chris Billam-Smith.

Rozanski's first bridgerweight defence was over before he had a chance to get going and Okolie didn't stay at the recently-assembled weight class long either, vacating his title five months later when announcing his move to heavyweight.

Domestic matchups against Dillian Whyte and Richard Riakporhe were mooted, though he made his Queensberry debut one to remember with a highlight reel one-round knockout win against overmatched former sparring partner Hussein Muhamed on December 7.

Lerena (31-3, 15 KOs) was interim champion back then and elevated to full titlist, stopping Sergiy Radchenko on May 1 in Pretoria to retain the strap. Yet the sport's glamour division has always been within reach and for the right opportunity, a worthwhile gamble.

Okolie, a career-long cruiserweight who won and made three successful WBO world title defences, knows the feeling.

He was set to end his long-running rivalry with Riakporhe at Manchester's Co-Op Live Arena on April 5, before withdrawing the previous month with an undisclosed training injury.

Although lobbying for a proposed title eliminator of sorts with unbeaten contender Agit Kabayel (26-0, 18 KOs), chief support billing on a stadium show for the undisputed heavyweight championship is no bad consolation.

While WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed to The Ring last month Lerena had their blessing to face Okolie in a career-best opportunity, the Johannesburg boxer knows he can't afford to fall short as has been the case twice before on big undercards.

The 33-year-old southpaw, nicknamed The KO Kid, dropped Dubois three times during a manic first round but failed to pull the trigger against a wounded favourite.

Two rounds later, referee Howard Foster waved their contest off and Lerena left wondering how he lost from such a promising position in the chief support to Tyson Fury-Derek Chisora 3 in December 2022.

15 months later and with two decent 12-round decision wins under his belt, he was thrust into a showcase opportunity for then-unbeaten Australian talent Justis Huni on the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Although he exceeded expectations and hurt Huni a few times, didn't do enough to sway the three judges and lost a competitive 10-round decision (96-94 x 2, 98-92) in a fight prompting Matchroom to be more cautious with the youngster's matchmaking.

Lerena claims to know Okolie well, having operated in similar spaces over the past few years. Having failed to secure a fight date for their proposed bridgerweight matchup last year, the timing could be perfect as the home favourite now assumes all the risk against a non top-15 ranked opponent with plenty to gain from the biggest stage on British shores.