Kevin Lerena rewrites history books with knockout win over Radchenko | Breaking News & Latest South Africa Updates

Kevin Lerena rewrites history books with knockout win over Radchenko — From humble beginnings to rewriting history books. That is the best way to describe the long and thorny journey of reigning World Boxing Council (WBC)...

From humble beginnings to rewriting history books.

That is the best way to describe the long and thorny journey of reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) bridgerweight boxing world champion Kevin "Two Guns" Lerena.

From being a race jockey, a trainer and a bouncer, Lerena made history when he was installed by the WBC Championship Committee as fully fledged bridgerweight champion in October last year.

He became the third local fighter in history to hold the sought-after WBC belt after Thulani "Sugar Boy" Malinga and the late Dingaan "The Rose of Soweto" Thobela.

The bridgerweight, which is strategically placed between the heavyweight division and the cruiserweight class, was established by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman in 2020 to bridge the gap between cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.

Its limit is 106kg.

Lerena, who reigned supreme with seven successful defences of his IBO cruiserweight belt, won the vacant WBC interim bridgerweight title on November 25 2023.

He was mandatory challenger to fully fledged champion Lawrence Okolie.

The Englishman vacated the belt when he moved up to the heavyweight category, and that is when Lerena's status was upgraded.

Lerena's achievement saw him follow in the footsteps of Ugandan John "The Beast" Mugabi, who is possibly the first African fighter to win the green and gold WBC belt, the junior middleweight title, in 1989.

Mugabi was part of an exceptionally talented group during a "golden era" of the 1980s. He won the WBC belt in round one after Rene Jacquot could not continue the fight due to an injury.

On Thursday night, supremely fit left-handed Lerena, whose career is guided by former heavyweight professional fighter Peter "The Sniper" Smith, vindicated the WBC Championship Committee by retaining the belt via an extremely impressive performance.

His pressure and perfect punch placement forced the corner of Ukrainian challenger Serhiy Radchenko to throw in the towel, saving him from severe demolition, in the third round at Sun Bet Arena in Time Square in Pretoria.

Radchenko, who is rated No 4 in that weight division, went down twice in round two, and was saved by the bell as Lerena rushed in to end it all.

The writing was on the wall when he wobbled back to his corner and it was a matter of time before the bout, which headlined Legacy Boxing Promotion's maiden tournament,  was over.

Radchenko should not have come out of the corner going for the third round.

His bravery became his worst enemy, and turned out to be like waving a red rag to a bull.

Lerena came out raging, and flurried a barrage of well-executed power punches, sending Radchenko down.

His corner men showed humanity by throwing in the towel six seconds into the round.

That was Lerena's 15th short route win in 31 victories from 34 fights, while 38 year-old Radchenko suffered his second stoppage in eight losses against 11 victories.

Lerena's fight was the first for a South African WBC champion to take place in SA.

Credit must go to new promoter Dewald Mostert, who made it possible for 32 year-old Lerena to make that history.

Malinga and Thobela were not fortunate to have a promoter willing to stage their super middleweight title defences here.

Mostert's maiden tourney, dubbed "The Reckoning", attracted a huge crowd. Thulani "Tulz" Mbenge provided excitement earlier on the night when he viciously sent Namibian  Emmanuel Mangadjela to slumberland in round three of their 10-round scheduled welterweight fight.

Thabiso "The Rock" Mchunu won his boring eight rounder against Congolese Amador Kalonji by a split points decision.

The boxing match lacked excitement, was characterised by a slow pace, defensive tactics and a lack of exciting action or finishes.

The corners of Mbenge and Mchunu were manned by trainer Sean Smith.

Other results:

Tiesetso Matikinca beat Mbulelo Gubula KO 2

Leo Correri bt Niclas Nzengu TKO1

Chris Thompson bt Mussa Ajibu TKO3

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