Heavyweight contender Kevin Lerena defeated Mariusz Wach by unanimous decision on Saturday night at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
The scores were 120-108, 120-108 and 118-110 for Lerena, who improved to 28-1, 14 knockouts.
Left-footed Lerena, who resides in the vicinity of Johannesburg, was at a significant height and reach disadvantage against Wach and struggled early as she couldn’t get into any rhythm.
Lerena finally got going in the third round as she began to land the most effective punches between the two. At the midpoint of the fight, Wach’s punching output dropped considerably and he showed signs of fatigue as he struggled with his mouth open for breath between exchanges.
As the fight continued into the second half of the fight, Lerena continued to control the action. It wasn’t until late in the tenth round that Lerena’s punches finally caught Wach off guard. Towards the end of the round, Lerena hit Wach and it looked like she was about to stop him, but he rang the bell to end the round.
Less than a minute into the twelfth round, a counter cross to the head stunned Wach, but Lerena couldn’t follow through and land anything meaningful to drop Wach to the canvas. To his credit, despite looking exhausted, Wach kept fighting until the final bell rang, where both men embraced.
Saturday marked Lerena’s third fight as a heavyweight after several years competing in the cruiserweight division, where he would go on to win the IBO world title.
Wach, who resides in Krakow, Poland, drops to 36-9, 19 KOs. The 42-year-old fighter has lost four of his last five bouts.
Lusanda Komanisi defeated Tshifhiwa Munyai by unanimous decision in a clash between South African lightweights. The scores were 117-110, 115-112 and 114-113 for Komansi, who improved to 27-6, 22 KOs. The 32-year-old has now won his last six fights after losing the previous two.
Munyai drops to 35-7-1, 20 KOs. The 37-year-old fighter entered the Komansi fight having won all seven of his previous fights.
In bantamweight action, Ricardo Malajika of Johannesburg improved to 9-2, 7 KOs by stopping hard-hitting Arnel Lubisi (6-5, 5 KOs) in the second round.
The card was promoted by veteran South African promoter Rodney Berman.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County, California, Star newspaper. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.
