Exclusive: Kevin Lerena on Wembley, Du Plessis Support, and Flying the Flag for South Africa

Following his one-sided clash against Serhiy Radchenko in May, South Africa’s Kevin Lerena will have the chance to defend his WBC Bridgerweight title against Lawrence Okolie in front of a packed Wembley Stadium next month. 

As Lerena asserts, a number of the heavyweights have avoided jumping into the ring with the Southpaw, and fighting in the high-profile event in London on July 19 will have come like mana from heaven for the boxer as his WBC Silverweight champion, Lawrence Okolie, accepted the clash.

Fights have been difficult to secure for Lerena, and a loss to Justis Huni in March last year did not help his cause. That fight in particular would have been incredibly tough for Lerena, as the bout took place the day after his mother died.

The Radchenko fight was Lerena’s first in over a year, and the Ukrainian was no match for the boxer on his home turf. Radchenko lost in a Technical Knockout in just the third round. 

Now the chance for Lerena to showcase his skills on a much greater stage has finally arrived.

WBC Silver Heavyweight Title at Wembley Stadium

“The fans are going to be mad. To headline as the co-main event at Wembley Stadium again in front of 97,000 people. It's an absolute honour,” Lerena told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview.

“The preparations are going well. I'm feeling strong and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm looking forward to becoming the new WBC silver heavyweight champion.”

Beating Okolie would open a number of doors for Lerena.

“It’s huge. This means [if I win] I'm number one mandatory in the heavyweight division and I'll challenge for a heavyweight world title. So essentially that's the goal of becoming the three-weight division world champion. Unparalleled, I guess.”

Dricus du Plessis: A Ringside Legend

In his fight against Radchenko, which was the headline bout of ‘The Reckoning’ event, there was a high-profile guest sitting ringside. That, of course, was MMA middleweight world champion Dricus du Plessis.

“It was an absolute honour to have Dricus there. Dricus is a big supporter of combat sports and growing the sport within South Africa. And he's a legend in his own right within the MMA sphere as well as combat sports. So it's an absolute honour to have a guy like Dricus support me because he realises the vision too.”

Du Plessis will attempt to defend his world title for the third time against Khamzat Chimaev in August, and unsurprisingly Lerena backed his countryman.

“I wish him all the best for his title fight and defence. I believe Dricus wins. A lot of people have asked me, I believe Dricus wins, truly.”

The Rise of South African Combat Sports

While the fighting style of Du Plessis has been described as a “drunken toddler” or a “white guy dancing,” Lerena said that did not matter one bit.

“I think he's unconventional, he's awkward, but the most important thing is he’s ‘helluva’ strong and he knows what he needs to do."

“If you bring all of that together and put him against somebody, it's always a hard night for anybody. I think he's perfected what he needs to perfect in order to be a champion.”

As Lerena and Du Plessis are the headline acts in SA combat sports, being mentioned alongside the MMA champ was a matter of pride for the boxer.

“It's an absolute honour to be mentioned amongst those names. We're running our own race, boxing, MMA, not the same sport but it's great to be amongst those names because at the end of the day we're all doing great for our country and the flag.”

It’s becoming more common for MMA fighters to transition to boxing, with some high-profile names like Conor McGregor in his big-money defeat to Floyd Mayweather back in 2017.

In South Africa, Boyd Allen made the switch - after a 16-6-1 record - from MMA to boxing in 2018. He will now fight it out for the IBO All Africa Title on June 21 in Sandton against champion Kagiso Bagwasi.

Lerena had nothing but praise for Allen as he continues to make steady progress in boxing.

“It's very hard, it's not easy. Two different sports. Boxing is obviously very focused on the hands, different things to look at, different angles, different types of ways to read a fight and execute a fight. Two totally different sports. So the crossover is not easy.”