Kevin Lerena stops Serhiy Radchenko in explosive return to the ring
South African boxer Kevin Lerena made a triumphant return to the ring with a dominant third-round stoppage of Ukraine's Serhiy Radchenko at the BetSun Arena in Pretoria on Thursday night.
After more than a year of inactivity, the Johannesburg-born Lerena wasted no time in asserting his dominance, thrilling the home crowd with a clinical and aggressive performance that improved his record to 31 wins and 3 losses, with 15 knockouts.
From the opening bell, Lerena controlled the pace of the bout, using his jab to keep Radchenko at bay and setting up punishing power shots that repeatedly pierced through his opponent's high guard.
Radchenko, now 11-8 (5 KOs), struggled to mount any meaningful offence in return.
The second round proved decisive, as Lerena landed a series of heavy left hooks, the first of which drove Radchenko into the ropes and the second dropping him hard to the canvas.
Though Radchenko bravely got to his feet and attempted to survive by clinching, another knockdown followed shortly thereafter.
Despite two knockdowns and signs of visible distress, Radchenko's corner allowed him to continue into the third round.
Kevin Lerena capitalised swiftly, landing a final combination that dropped Radchenko to his knees.
This time, his corner threw in the towel, prompting the referee to wave off the contest.
Speaking after the fight, Lerena expressed his readiness to climb back into the international spotlight and issued a direct challenge to Britain's Fabio Wardley.
'I want bridgerweights, heavyweights – let's go!' Lerena declared in the ring, drawing loud cheers from his supporters.
Lerena, who famously dropped Daniel Dubois three times in the first round of their 2022 clash before being stopped himself, now looks poised for another big-name bout in the heavyweight or bridgerweight divisions.
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