Lerena shows class but Muller goes down

IT was no mean feat for any of the four boxers who had to fight their way into the finals of the Super Four Cruiserweight tournament.

First on the cards at Night of Reckoning which was held at on Saturday, June 11 at Emperors Palace was the bulky Kevin Lerena, who had a face-off with Roberto Bolonti from Argentina, and then Johnny Muller showed what he was made of when he took on Denmark’s Micki Nielsen.

The pugilists had their own bit of betting going on between them during the evening’s proceedings, but it was a boxing contest of extremely high calibre, presented by Golden Gloves Promotions, that packed in the crowd.

The four cruiserweights had all to fight for as only the two winners will advance to claim their stake of almost a R1 million on offer on Saturday, October 22.

Lerena learnt quite a lot of international boxing tactics as he took on Bolonti, but one could say that he was in control of his boxing record to capture the fight, winning by unanimous points decision by the judges 97/93, 97/93, 96/94 in the allotted 10 rounds. He was the first to advance to the finals and had a front row seat to watch his opponent for the finals.

Muller came out firing in his cruiserweight contest, showing his big heart, but walked right up against the bomber punches of Nielsen. The Dane showed that he was no walkover and launched his fists time and again on Muller. Once again the second of the Super Four contest was won by an unanimous points decision by the judges 95/94, 96/93, 98/91. Though Nielsen enjoyed picking the fight, Mullers’ combination of punches exploited some of the flaws that will open up the gap for Lerena to take down the hard-hitting Dane.

Thus it will be a fight not to be missed between the ex-Southerner, who now made his new home in Fourways, Lerena and Nielsen.

Then to top up the evening’s boxing, a well-groomed Simpiwe Khonco ran down his Eastern Cape contender, Siyabonga Siyo, to take home the much coveted and vacant IBO minimum belt.

Rodney Berman from Golden Gloves has already started his negotiations for Khonco’s next fight to set him up for the IBF belt held by Mexico’s Jose Argumedo.

Khonco had no trouble in dispensing of Siyo and won the title by unanimous decision by the judges 116/112, 116/112, 118/110.

“I like Khonco. He’s very exciting and has shown great improvement under Colin Nathan,” said Berman.

“Our plan wasn’t to lead, which is problematic against a counter-puncher like Siyo. He’s a good boxer, but he just wasn’t at Khonco’s level,” said Colin Nathan from the Box Office.

The first bout of the evening saw a draw announced by the judges between Fiston Kabamba and Chaz Wasserman. The call was made 38/38, 38/39 and 39/37 in the light heavyweight four-rounder.

In the meantime Joshua Studdard furthered his winning streak in the junior-featherweight division winning on points against Ayanda Nkosi. Studdard, who was very wary of his opponent, didn’t show his intent to outbox his opponent. Instead he went around the ring doing his business and looked satisfied winning on points.