In what proved to be very much a mismatch, WBC bridgerweight champion Kevin Lerena scored a third round stoppage win over Serhy Radchenko of Ukraine last night in Pretoria. Despite having been out of the ring for more than a year, Lerena had zero trouble holding onto his belt.
The South African southpaw decked his challenger twice in round two, before ending matters in the third round. Now 31-3(15), Lerena, who has fought at both bridgerweight and heavyweight, was beaten on points in a pretty exciting fight last time out, this when he was beaten by Justis Huni a heavyweight bout. Radchenko falls to 11-8(5) and, as has been pointed out by numerous articles that covered last night’s fight, it really is a mystery how and why Radchenko – who didn’t look top be in anything like tip-top physical shape – was ranked as the #4 WBC contender at the weight.
Lerena came out fast, looking to make it a short night, and he sure got what he wanted. It was a surprise when the referee didn’t stop the fight after the second knockdown, with Radchenko clearly in bad shape. Unsteady on his legs when coming out for the third, Radchenko was soon dropped by a combo from Lerena, and down he went to his knees, the towel coming in. Moving forward, there have to be far more meaningful fights for the 32 year old known as “The KO Kid.” Lerena has been stopped just once, this by Daniel Dubois. In the December 2022 fight, Lerena decked Dubois three times in the opening round, only to then be stopped after three rounds.
Lerena may move back up to heavyweight in the near future, this if he is unable to secure any big fights at bridgerweight. Certainly, last night’s easy win over 38 year old Radchenko proved little. Radchenko has now been stopped just two times, to be fair, so maybe he had a bad night last night, and was the victim of a poor training camp for whatever reason.
On last night’s under card:
Thabiso Mchunu W8 Amador Kalonji at cruiserweight
Tulani Mbenge TKO3 Obakeng Meletse.
