Lerena looking at the bigger picture
Kevin Lerena promises to live up to his billing as the best cruiserweight champion when he squares up against Mickie Nielsen in the Super Four final at Emperor’s Palace.
|||Kevin Lerena, South Africa’s representative in the Southpaw Showdown boxing tournament, promises to live up to his billing as the best cruiserweight champion when he squares up against Mickie Nielsen in the Super Four final at Emperor’s Palace on October 22.
During the work out Lerena confidently said “I am different from most boxers in my weight class because they rely on power to win. But I focus on outsmarting my opponents, using my good defence and body movement that makes me good champion. I will emerge victorious in the final due to my cleverness in the ring.”
Lerena needs to be at his best because his opponent, Mickie Nielsen, is undefeated in 22 fights. The Danish boxer easily disposed of Johnny Muller in the semi final. He was aggressive from the start, throwing ferocious combinations. However, that does not intimidate “The K.O Kid”.
Lerena says he picked up some mistakes Nielson during the fight but didn’t want to reveal these flaws.
He chuckled and said ‘’Mickie Nielsen failed to knock out Muller but I did when we fought in May. I know he is undefeated and it will be a tough fight but I have seen his flaws in his career and during the fight against Muller. I won’t tell because it’s our game plan and I’m going to exploit his weaknesses.”
While Danish pugilist fought Muller, “The K.O Kid” fought Roberto Bolonti in the semi final. Lerena outboxed Bolonti, improving his record to 15 wins with only 1 loose.
Most fans thought Lerene would send Bolonti to the canvass early. However, according to Lerena, it was his plan not to send his opponent to the canvas but to outbox him.
“People wonder why I didn’t knock Bolonti out but it was the team strategy to be smarter than him. I played my cards safe winning each round and not get careless because that is risky and that helped me to be in the final,” Lerena said confidently.
The fight has a $100 000 purse, $60 000 to the winner and $40 000 to the vanquished fighter.
However, Lerena is not obsessed in pocketing the winning price but more about getting into the top ten rankings.
“Winning the fight will help me climb the rankings being in the top ten, enabling me to fight the best in the world in my weight class.” He said smilling.
Lerena said he appreciated the support he is getting from boxing fans.
“I’m very blessed to be here and I would like to thank my fans and every people who supported me. It will be South Africa versus Denmark and its about making the country proud,” Lerena concluded. - Independent Media