Kevin Lerena celebrates his triumphant heavyweight debut. Picture: James Gradidge/Gallo Images
Kevin ‘Two Guns’ Lerena boldly proclaimed he was “coming for the top 10” after scoring an impressive fourth-round knockout against Romanian opponent Bogdan Dinu in his heavyweight debut at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.
Lerena announced his arrival on the heavyweight scene emphatically by claiming the vacant WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title in the headline bout on Golden Gloves’ “Heavyweight Mania” card.
The popular South African southpaw completely negated a significant height and reach disadvantage, smothering his towering opponent with his speed and power, to put an end to the contest 2:59 into the fourth with a booming straight left, as Dinu sank to the canvas for the maximum count from referee Jean-Robert Laine.
Fans could see the script was already near completion moments prior to that when a solid right uppercut dropped Dinu, but he got up, only to walk into another barrage of blows.
The result had never been in doubt however, as Lerena stamped his authority on the fight, skilfully varying his fight plan with a measured assault to both the head and body.
Dinu had been down in the third round but the referee ruled it an unintentional low blow and he was given the regulatory time-out to recover. But no sooner had he returned to battle than he was floored by a barrage of combination punches for a mandatory eight count.
The South African (now 27-1–14) has certainly made a statement and it will be interesting to see what path his trainer Peter Smith and promoter now plot for him to make him a major player in the money-spinning heavyweight division.
In the main supporting bout on the five-card offering, Capetonian Jean Roux’s brief reign as national heavyweight champion was brought to an abrupt end by Joshua Pretorius.
The flame-haired Pretorius scored a unanimous points decision over the much talked about Roux, boxing from behind a damaging, educated jab and stringing together some snappy, lightning-fast combinations, also adding the vacant African Boxing Union belt to his haul.
Junior middleweight Shervantaigh Koopman moved to 10-0 with a fifth-round technical knockout victory over a game Jami Webb, claiming the IBF Africa title and the talented South African champion, with a strong amateur pedigree, will surely be elevated to headline fight status very soon.
Keaton Gomes (6-2) stopped Shaun Potgieter (3-1) in the opening round of another heavyweight bout, and the more experienced Mbiya Kanku stopped unbeaten prospect Phikelani Khumalo in the second round of a fight slated for six.
