South Africa’s Kevin ”Two Guns” Lerena makes his second venture into the heavyweight division when he meets Romania’s Bogdan Dinu for the vacant WBA Intercontinental heavyweight title in a scheduled 12-rounder at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Saturday night.
The tournament will be shown live from 19-00-23.00 on Supersport Variety 3.
Lerena (26-1; 13) had an outstanding career in the junior heavyweight division, winning the South African title and the IBO belt, making six successful defences.
Prior to this fight, Lerena announced that he was moving up to the heavyweight class, but he will be having his second fight at the weight, winning on a fifth-round stoppage against Patrick Ferguson in December last year.
The southpaw Lerena has been in outstanding form, winning four of his last five fights inside the distance, with the only distance fight against Vusal Ducar resulting in a win by a significant margin.
Lerena will have all the odds stacked against him, with the 35-year-old Ducar (20-3; 16) having massive advantages in height and weight and a 14-year career in the heavyweight division.
However, Ducar is vulnerable, with all three of his losses coming inside the distance, against Jarrell “Big Baby” Mille (ko 4), Kubrat Pulev (ko 7) and Daniel Dubois (ko 2).
Despite the physical disadvantages, Lerena will have the edge in speed and age and could go on to box his way to a hard-earned points victory.
UNDERCARD
On the undercard, there is an interesting matchup with the exciting young Juan Roux (6-0; 2) defending his South African heavyweight title against Joshua Pretorius (8-5; 5). The vacant African Boxing Union heavyweight title will also be on the line.
The unbeaten Shervantgh Koopman (9-0) defends his South African junior middleweight title against Jamie Webb (6-1).
In two other bouts, Shaun Potgieter meets Keaton Gomes over six rounds at heavyweight and in a middleweight contest, Phikelani Terence Khumalo faces Mbiya Kanku (DRC).
Billed as 'Heavyweight Mania', the tournament is presented by Golden Gloves Promotions.