Lerena sends out message in cruiserweight division

IT was never a storm in a tea cup when two cruiserweights from different continents met to determine who would wear the next WBC Youth Cruiserweight silver crown.

Palace Storm was hosted by Emperors Palace and presented by African ring in conjunction with Golden Gloves Promotions on Monday September 29.

Once the up and coming young boxing enthusiast from the South, Kevin Lerena, has now become the rightful holder of the WBC Youth Cruiser weight title when he dispersed with Georgias, Gogita Gorgilladze, in a fashionable manner. He KO’d him in the fourth round 1:49 and in this way stepped up in the boxing world to become a boxer of note.

Under the watchful eyes of the well known Smith brothers, Sean and Peter, Lerena can be looking at a bright future in the ring.

He approached his opponent with care in the first round, and then picked his punches to perfection in the next two rounds to wear Gorgiladze, who has an impressive record of 19 wins, six losses and a grand total of 15 KO’s, down to eventually plant a hammer of a punch to send him to the canvas for the full count.

Lerena’s record now reads 11 wins with seven KO’s.

It brought back good memories to watch former world title holders, IBO and IBF, Malcom Klassen, back in the ring, where he clinched his first IBO title. It is said that when a boxer matures, he could never be left out to add to your bill for an evening’s excellent boxing.

The boxing fraternity was treated to a display of skills not often seen in the South African ring. Klassen, from the South, made short work of Justin Savi from Benini to take him down with a humdinger of a punch in the fourth round TKO 1:46. They fought in the international junior lightweight division over eight rounds.

His opponent never posed any treat to him, but both boxers were in good condition and has a good history of boxing behind them. Klassen was just the more superior one in the ring and had an array of punches which Savi had no answer to.

In the undercards of the evening, Luyanda Jaku and Marcus Lebogo met in the junior welterweight division over four rounds, and a draw was called by the judges. The next bout saw Onke Duku and Duran Ray in the welterweight division, both making their debuts. Once again a draw was called by judges on the bench.

The last fight on the undercard was a disappointing one as clowning in the ring should be stamped out by the camps involved and the referee. Evergreen king of the Box ‘n Dines, Ashley Dlamini, recorded a favourable win on a points decision by the judges 78/74, 77/75, 79/73 over Sydney Maluleka, who tried to unsettle Dlamini, former Olympian, by way of undesirable means of boxing.