Lerena continues heavyweight campaign
By Ron Jackson
South Africa’s Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena continues his quest into the heavyweight division when he meets the 42-year-old Mariusz “The Viking” Wach from Poland for the vacant IBO Intercontinental heavyweight title at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Saturday night.
The tournament entitled “Lights Out” will be shown live on Supersport.
The 30-year-old Lerena (27-1, 14 KOs) has looked most impressive as a heavyweight scoring inside the distance victories over Patrick Ferguson (tko 5) and Bogdan Dinu (ko 4) which augurs well for his upcoming clash against Wach.
He looked in fine condition as a fully-fledged heavyweight in his first two fights despite some critics mentioning that he was too small for the division.
Wach (36-8, 19 KOs) is an experienced pro having made his debut in April 2005 and has been the distance with Wladimir Klitschko in 2012 in a challenge for the IBF/IBO/WBA/WB0 heavyweight belts.
He has also been in with some good heavyweights, but on the losing end against Alexander Povetkin (29-1), Jarrell Miller (19-0-1); Artur Szpilka (21-3), Martin Bakole (11-1) and Dillian Whyte (26-1).
With a height of 202cm and reach of 208cm he will have massive advantages over Lerena and will be much heavier.
However, this should not phase Lerena as he showed in his match with the much bigger and heavier Dinu he was quite comfortable.
Wach is definitely past his best having lost six of his last nine fights, but this is a good matchup for Lerena on his venture into the heavyweight class.
He is not ready for the top fighters like Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Joe Joyce, Joseph Parker and Dillian Whyte.
However, there is always the possibility that he could challenge for the IBO heavyweight belt sometime in the future should Usyk relinquish it, as he listed at number sixteen by the IBO.
Lerena is currently listed at No. 13 by the WBA and at No. 29 by the WBC.
Wach has only been stopped inside the distance on four occasions and it will be a bonus for the South African should he win inside the distance, but it is on the cards that Lerena will emerge as the winner possibly on points over 12 rounds.
TSHIFHIWA MUNYAI DEFENDS SA LGHTWEIGHT TITLE
In the main supporting bout 37-year-old Tshifhiwa “Atomic Spider” Munyai (36-6-1, 20 KOs) defends his South African lightweight title against the 32-year-old Lusanda “The Mexican” Komanisi (26-6, 22 KOs), the former South Africa and IBO featherweight champion.
This could be considered a battle of veterans and the champion will have to be at his best against the capable Komanisi.
UNDERCARD
Welterweight: Keanu Koopman vs Caiphas Manale
Mini flyweight: Beaven Sibanda vs Mfanuvele Ntuli
Bantamweight; Ricardo Malajika vs Arnel Lubisi
Bridgerweight; Keaton Gomes v Danny Ngokwe
The tournament is presented by Golden Gloves Promotions.
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