South African fighter Kevin Lerena successfully won the right to face the WBC Bridgerweight champion, Lukasz Rozanski, in a match over former Cruiserweight WBA ‘Regular’ world champion Ryad Merhy. Lerena seems to have bounced back successfully from his last stoppage loss to Daniel Dubois to course to a unanimous decision victory over Ryad Merhy. Their match was held in Lerena’s home country of South Africa on May 13th at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Gauteng.
Though the opportunity to face the WBC Bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski (15-0, 14 KO’s) was on the line, there are doubts as to the legitimacy of the world title given the entire division is only recognized by the WBC. Nevertheless, the shot now belongs to Kevin Lerena (29-2, 14 KO’s) who overcame his December TKO loss to Daniel Dubois (19-1, 18 KO’s) to land himself a chance to become a ‘world champion’ by defeating Ryad Merhy (31-2, 26 KO’s) after a total of twelve rounds.
Notably, both fighters had once upon a time been considered elite Cruiserweight prospects and seemed to have always been destined to face each other at one point or another; instead of fighting at Cruiserweight, however, the two inexplicably chose to fight in a weight class that is virtually non-existent of any other known fighter except for Bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski.
Over the course of twelve rounds, Lerena seemed to have had the upperhand throughout against Belgium contender Ryad Merhy, despite a rather cautious approach that showed he had no inclination to get stopped like in his previous match. Though Kevin Lerena did not unleash the power shots he was accustomed to in his previous match, Ryad Merhy’s own offensive seemed to have little impact against the South African and Lerena edged most of the rounds with his greater boxing skills.
It was not thoroughly entertaining match or an overwhelmingly confident performance by Kevin Lerena, but it showed some relative improvement on his part when it came to his boxing ability, particularly his defense. Ryad Merhy, a known power puncher himself, seemed to have expected a different approach. This was evident by the way he often stepped in after seeing Lerena back off, only to get countered and his own defensive fundamentals seemed to be lacking whenever Kevin Lerena unleashed his own blows.
Overall, the match will not see either of the fighter lose or gain much given they were fighting in a non-recognized division. Though Merhy and Lerena are both ranked fighters, in the Cruiserweight and Heavyweight divisions respectively, it is unknown how much their current rankings will be affected by their performances.
With his victory, Kevin Lerena will face Polish WBC Bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski in the near future. Lukasz Rozanski had previously been moving up the rankings in the Heavyweight division but seems to have drifted to become a Bridgerweight when the opportunity came knocking against Alen Babic (11-1, 10 KO’s) who he soundly defeated by technical knockout in just the first round. Rozanski subsequently became the second WBC Bridgerweight champion after Oscar Rivas (28-1, 19 KO’s) first won the title in 2021.
