By Iqbal Khan
Johannesburg - Kevin Lerena graduated to the heavyweight division with flying colours on Saturday night when he beat Romanian Bogdan Dinu in the fourth round of a 12-round encounter for the World Boxing Association's Inter-Continental heavyweight championship title at the Golden Gloves tournament at the Emperors Palace, in Johannesburg.
It was a signal for the 29-year-old South African to announce that he has arrived on the heavyweight scene and is here to stay.
Though his win was a credible one, he has to be a little circumspect in calling for the top 10 in the world to get ready for his arrival in the heavyweight division.
“I predicted it would end in the fifth round but it came a little earlier,” Lerena said. “It's a reminder to the top-10 in the heavyweights that I've arrived.”
The likes of Tyson Fury, who is the undisputed world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, who lost recently, and Oleksandr Usyk are seasoned heavyweights. They would lick their lips to take on Lerena, still an inexperienced fighter in the division and who has just had the first heavyweight fight of his career after moving up from cruiserweight which he dominated for most of his professional career.
Against Dinu, Lerena used his speed around the ring to outmanoeuvre the Romanian and his quick hand speed was telling on the night.
The South African sized-up his opponent in the opening two rounds before getting into his groove and began working Dinu's body.
Lerena caught him with an accidental low blow in the third round and Dinu took the mandatory five minutes to recover.
But that did not help as soon as he resumed, Lerena peppered him with jabs, and lefts and rights to the head and body.
He dropped the Romanian with a combination for a count of eight, but it looked as if the end was in sight for the visitor.
And it was as Lerena caught Dinu with a left and right hook, and another right hook for a second count of eight.
While he may have thought he would survive the round, the South African hit him with a left and brought an end to the fight in one minute 59 seconds into the fourth round.
While Lerena proved just too strong for Dinu, in the main supporting bout KwaZulu-Natal's Joshua Pretorius was victorious as he beat defending SA heavyweight champion, Juan Roux, to take the national title away from the Capetonian.
He scored a unanimous points decision - he dominated the fight from the opening round against a sluggish Roux, who was more than 30kg heavier than Pretorius, who came in at 104kgs.
Pretorius used his jab effectively throughout the fight, scoring at will and by the 10th he was ahead on the scorecards of the judges.
A perfect ending to another memorable evening at #ThePalaceOfDreams. With our #Champion Kevin Lerena winning by knockout, and claiming the WBA Inter Continental Heavyweight Title.#heavyweightmania pic.twitter.com/DP7N2jfbtV
— Emperors Palace (@EmperorsPalace) March 26, 2022
In a battle for the IBO continental Africa junior-middleweight title Shervantaigh Koopman proved too strong for Jamie Webb, who survived two knockdowns in the third and fourth rounds before conceding a TKO defeat to the champion.
Webb fought on gamely, but Koopman's continuous pounding of his left and right was just too punishing. Webb was prevented from more serious punishment as referee Clifford Mbelu stepped in to put an end to proceedings.
Keaton Gomes scored a sensational opening-round knockout win over Shaun Potgieter in a scheduled six-round heavyweight non-title fight. Durban-born Gomes went on the attack from the moment the bell rang and pinned his opponent onto the ropes and unleashed a barrage of punches, forcing referee Simon Mokadi to stop the fight.
Terence Khumalo, an overwhelming favourite before his fight, was a shock loser to Mbiya Kanku of the DRC. Kanku won via TKO in the second round - a right uppercut and a left hook put an end to the contest one minute 53 seconds into the second round.
IOL sport