Kevin Lerena on a Wembley mission to become South Africa's next heavyweight champion

IOL News

2 days ago

KNOCKOUT KEVIN Lerena, in a file photo against Serhiy Radchenko in Pretoria. Tonight he fights for a heavyweight belt against Britain's Lawrence Okolie at Wembley. | Alexius van der Westhuizen
KEVIN Lerena steps into the ring for his second ever heavyweight title bout when he squares up to Englishman Lawrence Okolie at the Wembley Stadium tonight.
South Africa's boxing darling – the WBC bridgerweight champion – will be looking to do better than he did against Daniel Dubois back in 2022 when he was sent crashing on his backside on the canvas in the third round, having himself sent his adversary to the deck on two occasions in the first round.
Prior to his departure to London, Lerena oozed confidence and promised to knock Okolie out so he can bring home the WBC silver heavyweight title.
It is a mammoth task but should he be successful, he will put his name on a very short list of South Africans who have held world heavyweight titles.
Lerena could become only the third South African to become a world champion at the top weight and will be following in the footsteps of the late Gerrie Coetze and the man he grew up admiring, Corrie Sanders.
GERRIE COETZEE
The late 'Boksburg Bomber' remains a legend of the sport long after he'd departed. And rightly so, for Coetzee was a trailblazer – not only for South Africa but Africa by becoming the first man from the continent to win the world heavyweight title.
Back in 1983, he smashed Michael Dokes – knocking the American out in the 10th round with some clinical punching that had the likes of me thinking we could take up boxing.
It was a case of 'third-time lucky' for Coetzee who had twice tried but failed to become champion of the world.
You are not a true boxing fan if you are not aware of his fight with John Tate at a packed Loftus Versfeld in October of 1979 for the WBA title which he lost on points after 15 rounds.
A year later he squared up to Mike Waver at the Sun City Super Bowl for the same belt following Tate's failed maiden defence. He suffered a 13th round TKO.
The excitement of his crowning through that stellar victory over Dokes did not last too long as Coetzee got dethroned in his maiden title defence.
I remember waking up in the wee hours of the morning to watch him fight Greg Page and getting bitterly disappointed as he got knocked in the eighth round.
CORRIE SANDERS
Like Coetzee, Sanders has also died – the man they called The Sniper having been a victim of the country's senseless crime after being shot by robbers in Brits back in 2012.
His crowning as WBA champion remains one of heavyweight boxing's biggest shocks to this day. No one – save for his camp perhaps – had expected him to beat champion Wladimir Klitschko when the two clashed in Hanover, Germany back in 2003.
His talents notwithstanding, Sanders had been pretty idle before the fight for the WBO title – the southpaw having been in the ring only twice for a combined three rounds in the two years prior to the fight.
But he got the go-ahead and boy did he take advantage of it. It took him just two rounds to send the champion's lights out – Sanders dropping Klitschko on four occasions.
No wonder then that Klitschko said years later that Sanders was the hardest puncher he's ever encountered.
'I've been in boxing for 25 years and I never fought anybody in this game that punched like Corrie Sanders,' he told Ring Magazine.
Sanders never got to defend the title though as he vacated it because of a conflict between his promoter and the WBA.
He challenged for the vacant WBC title and got beat by the older brother of Wladimir – Vitali Klitschko who knocked him out in the eighth round.
Can Kevin Lerena add his name alongside these two tonight by beating Okolie?