Justis Huni will face his toughest challenge, to date, of his young career.
The unbeaten heavyweight prospect will face Kevin Lerena on March 8. Lerena recently posted the news on his social media accounts and promoter Rodney Berman confirmed the news to The Ring.
The 10-round heavyweight bout will take place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and will be part of the televised undercard of the Anthony Joshua-Francis Nganou heavyweight showdown that will stream live on PPV.com ($69.99 or $39.99 with a DAZN subscription).
The clash between Lerena and Huni is the classic crossroads fight between contender and prospect. Berman has respect for Huni, but is confident that Lerena’s experience will be the deciding factor on March 8.
“It is interesting to me that the bookmakers have Huni hugely favored,” Berman told The Ring Monday morning. “Lerena is being grossly underestimated, and I am confident of a decision in his favor.
“Although Huni has a long amateur record as opposed to Lerena never having fought as an amateur, Lerena has fought far better opponents. Neither fighter carries much punching power, but Lerena definitely commands the respect of his opponents, and is the more-skilled fighter.
“The only thing that could go against Lerena is size and weight, which makes this fight very intriguing.”
The southpaw Lerena is listed at 6’1”, three inches shorter than Huni.
Lerena (30-2, 14 knockouts) last fought on November 25, defeating Senad Gashi by unanimous decision. In his previous fight on May 13, Lerena won a hard-fought unanimous decision over former WBA cruiserweight titleholder Ryad Merhy.
Both fights took place in Kempton Park, South Africa, not far from his hometown of Johannesburg, where Lerena has a massive following.
The 31-year-old also faced heavyweight Daniel Dubois, dropping Dubois three times in the opening round before getting stopped in the third round. After becoming a legit contender at cruiserweight, Lerena has recently campaigned in the newly-created bridgerweight division, with the weight limit not exceeding more than 225 pounds (the bridgerweight division is not recognized by The Ring).
“To give some idea of both Lerena’s competence and willingness to ‘roll the dice,’ he is the mandatory challenger for the WBC bridgerweight title. (He can) possibly be elevated to champion, should (Lukasz) ultimately vacate the title. If Lerena loses by stoppage, this would all go out of the window.”
Recently, Lerena has been a sparring partner to WBC titleholder Tyson Fury.
Huni (8-0, 4 KOs), who resides in Brisbane, Australia, scored the biggest win, on paper, of his young career in his last bout on October 28, defeating Andrew Tabiti by unanimous decision.
The 24-year-old has already defeated four unbeaten fighters, thus far, including a one-sided victory over hard-hitting prospect Joseph Goodall in June 2022.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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