JOHANNESBURG - It wasn’t how Kevin Lerena would have liked to win, but every victory counts and Saturday night’s defeat of a tame Vikapita Meroro keeps the “KO Kid” en route to that world title that the boxing fraternity believes he is worth.
The Namibian’s surrender a little under a minute into the fifth round was a pretty disappointing end to a fight that top the bill of Golden Gloves’ Thunder and Lightning tournament at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg.
Looking somewhat out of shape having last fought two years ago, the Namibian was never going to be a match for the super fit Lerena.
And as early as the first round, the South African was sending his foe onto the canvas with a glancing left hook to the top of Meroro’s head.
If that knockdown promised some thrills from Lerena, Meroro contrived to play spoiler as he resorted to holding and pushing, making it hard for the KO Kid to deliver a show.
The fight then became more of a wrestling match with referee Thabo Spampoel continuously having to call on the combatants to “stop holding”.
Lerena decided to work Meroro’s body from close quarters and the ploy worked like a charm as he hurt his flabby opponent. While hurt, Meroro’s quitting was pretty disappointing and left many to suggest he’d merely accepted the fight for a payday.
In an earlier fight, Ryno Liebenberg failed to gain revenge on Germany’s Enrico Koeling – the Lion suffering a unanimous points defeat to the fighter who also out-pointed him back in October.
While he had promised to end their ten rounder within the distance, Liebenberg hardly troubled the man he felt he’d beaten in the first clash.
The judges scored it 96-94; 96-94; 97-93 for Koeling, leaving the South African winless in five fights now.