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Former WBC champion Kevin Lerena has been named one of three finalists for the prestigious Sportsman of the Year honour at the SA Sports Awards, set to take place on Sunday at Sun City.
Lerena is up against fellow top South African athletes, golfer Christiaan Maas and swimmer Pieter Coetze.
The nomination caps off an eventful stretch for the 34-year-old power-puncher. In 2025, Lerena made history as the first South African boxer to successfully defend a WBC world championship, stopping Ukrainian Serhiy Radchenko in the third round of their bridgerweight clash in front of 7,600 cheering fans in Pretoria.
Following that dominant defense, Lerena stepped up to the heavyweight ranks to face Lawrence Okolie for the WBC Silver Heavyweight title, ultimately dropping a competitive 10-round decision on points. Beyond his accomplishments inside the ring, Lerena made significant waves in the industry by helping launch Aquila Boxing Promotions (ABP), which successfully staged four sold-out events broadcast live on SuperSport.
Now, the South African contender is focused on rebuilding after a frustrating setback in late May, where he lost his WBC bridgerweight title to Belgian rival Ryad Merhy.
The defeat prompted Lerena—who naturally walks around near 100kg—to make a definitive career move: return to the cruiserweight division and its strict 90.7kg limit.
Last week, Lerena confirmed his official comeback date for November 7 in Sandton. Hard at work in the gym and fully locked in on shedding the necessary weight, he recently shared a video on Facebook detailing an energy-sapping 48-minute training routine.
Reflecting on his divisional reset, Lerena remains confident about returning to familiar territory:
“Going down to cruiserweight is a return to a division where I spent a very long time,” Lerena explained. “I reigned as world champion there for a couple of years, and it’s a massive goal of mine to go back down and make the weight. I’m currently at 96.9kg—effectively 97kg—so the weight is coming off. I’m in a good space, mentally positive, and physically ready. I’ve had my run at heavyweight, and bridgerweight was fine, but I want to become a cruiserweight world champion again because that division has been so good to me.”
“Would you like me to help with the other problems on the list?”That was the sentence a physics teacher recently found at the end of a pupil’s homework assignment. The solution itself was elegant and correct. Unfortunately, it was not produced by the child. It was generated by artificial intelligence and copied so carelessly that the pupil left in the chatbot’s question.A video on this went viral because it was […]
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