Kevin Lerena Conquers WBC Interim bridger belt
The South African fighter came into the fight considered a favourite and demonstrated it via an assured performance.
Kevin Lerena outclassed rugged Senad Gashi, landing powerful accurate blows throughout the 12 rounds of the fight.
31-year-old Lerena diminished German Gashi’s condition round by round, as he was notoriously wary of getting involved in the exchange. Kosovan-born Gashi never stopped fighting back and trying to win; however, "The KO Kid" Lerena remained focused on his fight plan to dominate proceedings.
33-year-old Gashi was deducted a point in the final round after hitting Lerena with a low blow. The South African southpaw took revenge for this action by knocking down Gashi seconds before the end of the last round.
The judges scored the fight in favour of world heavyweight title contender Lerena, declaring him the new WBC interim bridgerweight world champion. He now looks forward to facing absolute champion Łukasz Różański, who is expected to fight two-time world champion Badou Jack in the near future.
The legendary World Boxing Council champion, Lennox Lewis, was the guest of honour to see Kevin Lerena crowned WBC monarch.
Grateful to everyone who made this title possible, he confirmed this triumph and crowning as the best moment of his career, made even greater by Lennox Lewis, the guest of honor and person in charge of presenting his belt.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman later revealed that Lerena fought with a fractured rib. He kept mum about it and only those closest to him knew about the injury.
Kevin confirmed it caused him a lot of pain, but that if he has learned anything in life it is that opportunities come only once and you must take them, and this was the case, because he was not going to let an injury – which he had under control – keep him from the dream of his life.
“I am so happy to belong to the best boxing organization, the WBC, to be part of this great family. Today I just want to reinforce my commitment to represent the Green and Gold with passion and honor and be a worthy monarch,” he commented.
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