Kevin Lerena earns devastating KO in first WBC title defence

Kevin Lerena will be public enemy No 1 to Ukrainians due to the manner in which he conducted himself in defence of his WBC bridgerweight boxing belt against their champion Serhiy Radchenko on Thursday night.

Radchenko was rescued by his corner men in round three of their bout at the Sunbet Arena in Time Square, Pretoria.

It was Lerena’s first defence since he was crowned outside the roped square in October last year.

He was accepted by some boxing people as a credible world champ due to the fact that he did not lace a glove to win that belt.

His enthronement made him the first African fighter to hold the belt since it was established by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman in 2020.

Nicknamed “Two Guns”, Lerena won the interim title and became mandatory challenger to fully fledged champion Lawrence Okolie.

The Englishman relinquished the title when he moved up to the heavyweight class, and the WBC’s championship committee installed Lerena as champion.

Lerena was matched then against Radcheko, the No 4 contender, who holds the silver belt.

At first it was announced that the fight was going to happen in Ukraine — but that was until businessman Dewald Mostert convinced the hierarchy of the WBC he had the financial muscle and appropriate venue to stage it here.

He probably made an offer Radcheko and his team could not turn down — hence they gave away territorial advantage and came to face the champion in his backyard.

It was the first tournament for Mostert’s Legacy Boxing Promotions and Lerena produced a performance that will vindicate the WBC’s championship committee and probably earn him recognition from his critics.

His fight was the first for a local WBC champion on SA soil.  Previous WBC title holders such as Thulani “Sugar Boy” Malinga and Dingaan “The Rose” Thobela were unlucky not to have had a promoter willing to stage their super middleweights belts here.

Malinga won it twice in England and Thobela won it in Brakpan in what was the first WBC world title fight to take place in SA, staged by promoter Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves at Carnival City.

When Lerena’s status was upgraded in October last year, the former undefeated IBO cruiserweight champion became the third local fighter in history to hold the sought-after green and gold WBC belt.

Ushered to war by trainer and former heavyweight fighter Peter “The Sniper” Smith, Lerena went straight to work from the word go, jabbing his dance partner relentlessly throughout round one.

A well executed straight left dropped Radchenko early in round two but he got up and got back to work.

A swift combination of power punches sent him down again, however, and this time the visitor did not know where he was — only to be saved by the bell while still trying to figure out what had happened.

His bravery in coming out for round three became his biggest mistake. Lerena did not give him time and space to clear his head, firing a barrage of blows which sent Radchenko to slumber land. His corner men showed humanity, rescuing the visibly vanquished Ukrainian champion from total demolition 16 seconds into the round.

Lerena, 32, improved to 15 short-route wins in 31 victories from 34 fights while 38-year-old Radchenko suffered his second stoppage in eight defeats against 11 wins.

Earlier in the night, Tulani “Tulz” Mbenge provided excitement when he viciously knocked out Namibian Emmanuel Mungadjela in round three of their scheduled 10-round welterweight fight.

Thabiso “The Rock” Mchunu won his boring 8-rounder against Congolese Amador Kalonji by a split points decision.

Trainer Sean Smith manned the corners for Mbenge and Mchunu.

Other results: Tiisetso Matikinca beat Mbulelo Gubula KO 2; Leo Correri beat Niclas Nzengu TKO 1; Chris Thompson beat Mussa Ajibu TKO 3.

SowetanLIVE