International Boxing Organisation (IBO) cruiserweight champion Kevin Lerena will probably not have a defence as easy as he did on September 21 at Emperors Palace when he successfully defended his crown for the fifth time against Albania national Sefer Seferi.
The aggressor usually wins a boxing fight and in this fight, the champion was exactly that, but there was little to no response from the challenger, who appeared in most cases to be punching above his weight.
His record dropped to 23-3-1; 1 while Lerena improved his to 24-1; 11.
The champion was clearly ahead in points in the first and second, in the third round, just when the audience was warming up to the main event, the 27-year-old champion landed a blow to the side of Seferi’s head that sent the challenger to the canvas.
Slow to get on his feet after the blow, which was not the hardest of hits, even from a puncher as strong as Lerena, the challenger gave referee Jean Robert Laine little choice but to wave the fight off without completing the count inside three minutes of the round.
The judges, who turned out to be spectators on the evening, were Frank Maas from Germany, Olena Polyvailo from Belgium and Allen Matakane from South Africa.
If there’s anything Seferi and his entourage did during their time in the country, was all talk with no action.
• Makhense, Matamba goes to the wire
In what was an expected humdinger, World Boxing Association (WBA) Pan African junior welterweight champion Jabulani Makhense beat Marios Matamba from the DRC on a majority decision to win the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Africa junior welterweight belt, too.
The judges scored it 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114.
Other results:
- Lebo Mashitoa won the vacant Gauteng cruiserweight title when he beat Keaton Gomes via split decision.
- Thembani Mhlanga beat Aidan Quin on points in their junior middleweight bout.
- Mduduzi Moyo beat Michael Markram on points in their light heavyweight clash.
