LAWRENCE Okolie was set to box longtime cruiserweight rival Richard Riakporhe up at heavyweight during Queensberry's first show on DAZN in Manchester two weekends ago, before an undisclosed training injury shelved the 32-year-old's return.

Now, the former two-division world champion (21-1, 16 KOs) has fully recovered from the issue which saw him unable to train for a few weeks in the build-up to his cancelled Riakporhe clash and is ready to begin a pain-free training camp under Joe Gallagher again.

He told Boxing King Media over the weekend that his injury surfaced before the stacked Last Crescendo card in Riyadh on February 22, half-hoping ample rest would help do the trick but to no avail.

"One of the sparring days, it was too much so I was told to rest and did for two weeks. Sparred afterwards and it came back again so there was no way I could fight like that. Now? I'm ready to crack on with camp anytime."

When asked about rescheduling the Riakporhe matchup, he remained non-committal.

"I don't know, he's not the direction I'm going at heavyweight or at the forefront of my journey, I'm trying to become a three-division champion so we're looking to bigger and better."

No. 1-ranked with the WBC and #5 with the WBO at the time of writing, Okolie has found himself almost having to justify such a high ranking in a new weight class - having only just announced himself within the division after stopping former sparring partner Hussein Muhamed inside a round last December.

"The ranking is fantastic but I still have to fight, we pushed for Kabayel but have to go a different route because he's not fighting for a few months."

He delved deeper into the Kabayel conversation on talkSPORT, where he said:

"We've had lots of conversations... desperately tried to get Kabayel but he and his team don't want to fight again until September, so I'm cracking on and going to have a summer fight. I'm eating and drinking as a heavyweight, so now I can perform at my best.

"Yes he's looked good, beating Zhang, Frank Sanchez and Makhmudov, but either way I want to be a world champion in my third weight class and he's one of the only ones I'd have to beat."

In the interim, Okolie is seeking a worthy dance partner and feels like an all-British battle with a longtime world-level contender could satisfy plenty, rather than revisit the Riakporhe matchup.

He said his team offered fights to Joseph Parker, Joe Joyce and Dillian Whyte - all three were rejected - the latter two were set to box in the Manchester headliner before Whyte's hand injury saw former IBF interim title challenger Filip Hrgovic step up on short-notice.

He understands why Parker (36-3, 24 KOs), as the WBO interim titleholder, would rather wait patiently and see whether he could get another opportunity at full world honours. Based out of Dubai and already training for a later date, it could well have been him, rather than Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs), thrust into the chief support opposite the Kiwi seven weeks ago.

"It was done as far as we were concerned, I was on my way home to pack my bag and come over, then Frank Warren called and said Parker picked Bakole instead.

"Logistically, it made more sense [to pick Okolie], one hour away, my coach was already in Saudi... they picked the guy from Congo and it ended up being the right decision with a good knockout against a good name but I just sit and wait, opportunities will show itself and I'll take it with both hands."

However, that thought process doesn't apply elsewhere closer to home.

"I know Dillian doesn't want it because we offered it before the Joyce fight and he said nah he needs warm-ups. Publicly, he'll be like 'yeah, I'll smash Lawrence,' but behind-the-scenes cowering like a little chicken so I can't take him seriously.

The reality is, it's a good fight for both of us, good ranking potential for him, just on a personal one I wanna beat him, don't want him to retire and I've always got that chip on my shoulder, want to settle it properly. If he's still here, we should do it otherwise just retire, if you're not interested in proper fights, might as well pack it in, instead of hanging around hoping to be an AJ opponent or something."

Okolie's desire to face Whyte (31-3, 21 KOs) dates back six years, where the then-British cruiserweight champion shared a 20-second clip of them in sparring and tweeted his belief he'd beat Whyte, who just produced wins over Parker and Derek Chisora in defending the WBC Silver heavyweight title Okolie now holds.

Asked for his three-fight hitlist, Okolie doubled down.

"Based on Kabayel not being available in the summer, I'd say Whyte, then Kabayel and whoever is the world champion. There will come a point where people can't say no [and reject fight offers], because I'll be the mandatory.

If he [Whyte] doesn't box me, he'll box a bum and it just looks weird. You've done Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh, you can't do Chisora because he's the IBF mandatory, AJ is injured and going to do Fury so you're left in a situation where... let's do it."

Unsure whether unified champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) would retire or lose a potential Daniel Dubois rematch, Okolie - like many others - feels the belts will fragment in any case, though fancies his chances against a slower two-divisional titleholder in a year's time.

"By that stage, he'll be a lot slower on his feet and I'd hope that my athleticism - as much as he's beaten a lot of big guys - makes it more competitive than facing big slow heavyweights."

Having been criticised and subject to social media ridicule after weighing 260lbs for his heavyweight debut, Okolie acknowledges the need to be trimmer in future if he's to perform at his very best.

"I'm sitting at around 115kg (253.5lbs), I felt robust with extra weight but we're working on explosiveness, speed, if I'm going to fight the likes of Kabayel and Whyte then I need to be conditioned to go through them in the fire and get big knockouts that I've been enjoying lately."