Lerena beats ex-European champ to retain IBO title

KEVIN Lerena convincingly beat Dmytro Kucher on points to retain his marginal IBO cruiserweight title at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.

Lerena‚ cut above the right eye by a clash of heads early on and then bleeding from the nose for much of the bout‚ was too quick and busy for his more experienced opponent.

The judges scored it 119-109 119-109 and 117-111 for the South African‚ who improved to 22 wins (10 KOs) and one defeat. Kucher‚ a former European champion who hadn’t been in action since late 2016‚ dropped to 24-3-1.

SA welterweight champion Tulz Mbenge easily outpointed Mexican Diego Cruz‚ whose flabby midriff suggested he was a professional pie-eater rather than a professional boxer. Cruz did not bother coming close to the 66.68kg limit‚ weighing in at 69.25kg compared to the South African’s 65.85kg.

But he was able to soak up punishment for all 12 rounds‚ taking everything Mbenge could throw at him and landing a few useful shots of his own.

The judges scored the fight to Mbenge by 118-110 118-110 and 119-109. He also won the WBC International welterweight title and his record improved to 13-0 (10 KOs)‚ but his reputation was not enhanced.

Dee-Jay Kriel took a hiding for the first four rounds but rallied to beat SA strawweight champion Xolisa Magusha in 12 rounds.

The judges scored it in his favour by of 118-110 118-112 and 116-113‚ but those numbers do not tell the story of how Kriel turned this fight around.

Super-middleweight Rowan Campbell won by a technical knockout when Masixole Botile quit after taking a heavy body blow in the second round.