“Despite the result not being what I had hoped for, I am still standing tall in defeat.” That was the message from South African southpaw Kevin Lerena after he nearly pulled off a superb comeback in his heavyweight bout against Australian Justis Huni on Friday night.
Fighting at the Riyadh Season ‘Knockout Chaos’ event hosted by DAZN Boxing in Saudi Arabia – on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou clash – Lerena had to put aside the emotion of the death of his mother Belinda, who passed away on Thursday.
The 31-year-old from Johannesburg made the brave decision to continue with the 10-round encounter against the 24-year-old Huni, and produced a courageous performance that earned the respect of the boxing world.
The fact that Lerena has been a cruiserweight for most of his career made the display even more meritorious against the much bigger Queenslander Huni, who was a few kilograms heavier and 8cm taller at 1.93m compared to Lerena’s 1.85m.
With sports celebrities like Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo and Italian Francesco Totti, soccer coach Jose Mourinho and other boxers at ringside, Lerena made an impressive start, dominating the first two rounds with some good left-right combinations.
Huni finally got going in the third round, where he moved more swiftly around the ring and started to dish out some right hands.
Both fighters then got their jabs going, but by the sixth round, Lerena’s nose started bleeding as Huni’s greater power started bursting through the South African’s defences.
Huni’s heavier punches started wearing Lerena down, with the left-hander beginning to hold the Australian with more regularity towards the end of the bout.
But Lerena kept his best for the 10 th and final round, rocking Huni with two big left hands to leave the Aussie wobbling. The South African couldn’t land the knockout blow, but was still a bit unlucky to lose on points.
The three judges scored the fight 96-94, 96-94 and suspicious 98-92 – Lerena arguably did enough to win 96-94 himself, with some pundits on social media also scoring the fight as a 95-95 draw.
Massive win for @justisjphhuni 👏
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) March 8, 2024
96-94, 96-94, 98-92
He defeats Kevin Lerena to win the WBO Global Heavyweight Title! #HuniLerena | @DAZNBoxing | #JoshuaNgannou pic.twitter.com/XPio6N7WSI
“Credit to Justis – he boxed very well. Good amateur style, like I said. I’m technically a good boxer, but I am more of a brawler. He is a very good, Olympian-style boxer, so it was hard for me in there,” Lerena told promoter Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions in an interview afterwards.
“But the guts and the glory... I turned him a few times and just needed to follow through, and in the second and 10th, he was hurt.
“But credit to him. He stayed up, and hopefully I made for a good fight, and put on a show for Queensberry, Matchroom (Promotions), DAZN and everybody, and I’m just blessed to be here.
“It was a dream of mine to fight in Riyadh Season. I manifested it when I came to work for Tyson (Fury) and we were out here.
“Heavyweight’s not my weight – I am a cruiserweight and bridgerweight – but I’m just daring to be great and trying my best to just be up there with the big boys.
“Midway through the fight, I think I won the first and second, and he really started doing well in three, four, five, six.
“And obviously seven, eight, nine, 10, my corner said ‘Are you okay, do you want me to stop the fight?’, and I said ‘Don’t you dare! Let me stay on until the end – I am a warrior’.
“I said I would go out on my shield – you are going to carry me out of there, or you are going to knock me out or you are going to beat me on points. But I’ve got balls, I dig deep, and that’s what I do.
“Of course, he was on shaky legs (in the 10th round), but credit to him – he survived well. I was trying my best to just land another shot on him, but he covered up nicely.
“Coming into this fight with emotional bit of damage. But it was no excuse for my performance – Justis just boxed better. Don’t take it away from him... he boxed well.
Such a powerful interview from @Kevlerenaboxing, a display of true bravery ❤️️#JoshuaNgannou, live now worldwide on DAZN. Buy 𝗡𝗢𝗪 at https://t.co/FoiaUucafv#KnockoutChaos | #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/aRLBql3KI7
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 8, 2024
“Like I said, there is no good timing of death. It happened to me yesterday unfortunately, but well done to Justis – he was the better man on the night in terms of boxing ability. With my warrior heart, I tried my best.”
But it was still a memorable experience in the ring for Lerena, who also met and took a photo with Portuguese superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo in Riyadh in the build-up to the fight.
While his record now stands at 30-3 (with 14 knockouts), the South African showed more than enough style and character on Friday to earn some solid fights in the near future – although it might be at bridgerweight (just below heavyweight) first before he gets back into action against the biggest men in boxing.
“I can say back to the drawing board. I’m still the WBC Bridgerweight Interim champion, so I’m going to go down and fight (Lukasz) Rozanski (the 38-year-old current WBC Bridgerweight champion from Poland) and smash him up, and see what the future holds,” Lerena said.
“My promoter back home, Rodney (Berman), wants to make the fight. Frank and Spencer (Brown, Tyson Fury’s manager) said they want to make a big fight for me at bridgerweight, so who knows what the future holds.
Despite the result not being what I had hoped for, I am still standing tall in defeat 👍🏼 These past 2 days have been an emotional rollercoaster, but the outpouring of love and support from the boxing world has been truly humbling. I am grateful for all of the messages … pic.twitter.com/ZVzKhNMJYJ
— Kevin Lerena (@Kevlerenaboxing) March 9, 2024
“(But) thank you to everybody – His Excellency (Turki Al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia), Frank Warren, George Warren, Eddie (Hearn), for putting on this fight. Justis, good competitor...
“Look, there’s no such thing as good timing when somebody dies. Emotionally, it was tough, but you can’t take away credit from this young man (Huni) – he’s a tough competitor. I had him hurt in the first, second and 10th (rounds), so that’s testament to my guts.
“It has been challenging, but no excuses. My performance isn’t based on the loss of my mom, and I came out here for my mom – in her honour.
“Despite the result not being what I had hoped for, I am still standing tall in defeat.
Fantastic start to the action between Huni and Lerena.@Kevlerenaboxing you should be proud of your performance, a true warrior done your family proud. #KnockoutChaos
— Frank Warren (@FrankWarren) March 8, 2024
“These past two days have been an emotional roller-coaster, but the outpouring of love and support from the boxing world has been truly humbling. I am grateful for all of the messages.
“It’s been a tough journey, but I am determined to stay strong and keep moving forward! That’s what warriors do.
“Thank you to everyone who has been there for me during this challenging time. Your kindness and support means the world to me.”