Perfect gift for Lerena

Reigning International Boxing Organisation (IBO) cruiserweight boxing champion Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena (above) got the best birthday gift he could have wished for yesterday.

In what will undoubtedly be the biggest step-up in class of his career, the popular South African (26-1-13 knockouts), who turned 29 yesterday, is set to face the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim world champion Ryad Merhy (29-1-24 ko’s) in Brussels on 17 July.

Lerena’s IBO strap, which he has held since 2017, will also be on the line in a tournament to be co-promoted by Golden Gloves and DiBella Entertainement.

It now appears as if Lerena and his handlers have finally abandoned plans to move up to the lightly-regarded WBC bridgerweight class and opted to take his career as a cruiserweight to the next level.

“I’m in my prime now and always set myself a goal to be the best cruiserweight. This is a step in the right direction,” Lerena told the Golden Gloves website.

“The cruiserweight division is alive. Bridger is a new division but is not getting the same hype as the cruisers. There are some very big fights (unification) to be had here,”

Boxing pundits and fans have been baying for Lerena to prove his pedigree in the talent-laden division and questioned the quality of his recent opponents.

In December, the man many fans also call “The KO Kid”, barely had a glove laid on him in a fifthround technical knockout win over American Patrick Ferguson.

Prior to that, he completely outclassed German veteran Firat Arslan and Swiss-based Sefer Sefiri, easily dispatching both in six, and three rounds, respectively.

The big-punching Merhy has barely ventured out of his home country and captured the WBA interim world title belt via a seventh round knockout against the unbeaten Hungarian Imre Szello in 2019.

He also had an unsuccessful crack at the same title in 2018 against the Frenchman Arsen Goulanmirian (26-0), who now holds the top-tier WBA title.