South Africa’s Kevin Lerena Suffers Defeat in Saudi Arabia on Joshua and Ngannou Undercard

• Kevin Lerena returned to the heavyweight ranks when he took on Justis Huni in Saudi Arabia
• The South African and Australian competed on the undercard of the Knockout Chaos event
• The event was headlined by the fight between Anthony Joshua and Cameroon's Francis Ngannou

Kevin Lerena has suffered a unanimous decision defeat as he returned to fighting at heavyweight.

The South African boxer took on Australia’s Justis Huni on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou fight in Saudi Arabia.

Two Guns controlled the opening rounds well, looking more comfortable as he landed hard-hitting blows regularly.

But as the fight wore on, Huni started to take control and did more damage.

The Australian looked fresher as the rounds progressed and started to control the fight more. Despite Lerena being the more experienced fighter, Huni looked well on his way to a comfortable win, before the final round.

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Lerena almost pulls off knockout

Needing a knockout to secure the victory, Lerena came out swinging in the tenth and final round and almost produced a finish to remember.

Two Guns rattled Huni with some pinpoint shots, and he looked like he was one big shot away from a knockout. Despite having the advantage, Lerena could not finish off his younger opponent, and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards.

Huni wins via unanimous decision

The Australian surviving the final round was enough to see him claim the win. Two judges scored it 96-94 in favour of him, while the third scored it 98-92 for him.

Huni was then presented with the WBO Global Heavyweight title.

Lerena fought despite mother’s death

While Huni celebrated, a lot of focus was also put on an emotional Lerena.

As noted by talkSPORT, Lerena’s mother passed away a day before the fight. Despite suffering a huge personal loss, Lerena opted to continue with the bout.

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Lerena helps Fury train for Usyk

Sports Brief reported how Lerena was approached by WBC Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to help him train for his upcoming fight.

Fury is preparing to take on Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk in a heavyweight title unification bout in Saudi Arabia later this year.

To properly prepare for the Ukrainian, Fury wanted to spar with a southpaw, and asked the South African for his assistance.