Lerena and Gashi meet for interim WBC title

South Africa’s Kevin Lerena is a firm favourite when he goes in against Germany-based Senad Gashi in a clash for the interim WBC Bridgerweight title at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Saturday night.

The tournament will be shown live on SuperSport.

The 31-year-old Lerena (29-2; 14) is coming off a win over the highly regarded Ryad Merhy after the setback against Daniel Dubois in London for the WBA secondary heavyweight title, when he was stopped in the third round. However, Dubois was down three times and had it not been for a prior agreement to waive the three knockdown rule he would have claimed the WBA title.

Lerena will be the first South African fighter to challenge for a WBC title since Dingaan Thobela stopped Glenn Catley on 1 September 2000.

Should Lerena win he will be the co-WBC Bridgerweight champion with Poland’s Lukasz Rozanski.

This is an important fight for South Africa as it has only been on rare occasions that South African fighters have challenged for a WBC title on home soil. Two of the outstanding South African fighters who have won WBC titles are Thulani “Sugarboy” Malinga and Dingaan Thobela.

It has been reported that Lerena could become a co-world champion if he wins as Rozanski must defend against Badou Jack.

The WBC have ruled that Rozanski and Jack meet before February next year.

Malinga, Thobela, and former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis will be at ringside on this special night for South African boxing.

Gashi, 33, who was born in Pec, Kosovo, made his pro debut in May 2014 and has racked up a record of 27-3; 26.

His only losses have come against Tom Schwarz (dsq 6), Carlos Takam (tko 7) and Derek Chisora (pts 10).

With a 96 per cent knockout ratio Gashi has power, but the question is how good were his opponents and it is on the cards that Lerena will emerge with a hard-earned points decision.