Lerena to fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

It has been reported that South Africa’s No 1 fighter Kevin Lerena (30-2; 14), the WBC interim Bridgerweight champion, will be fighting at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 8 March, when he meets the unbeaten Australian heavyweight Justus Huni (8-0;4) on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua v Francis Nganou heavyweight fight.

The current WBC Bridgerweight champion is Lukasz Rozanski (15-0; 14) from Poland, who is scheduled to face Oscar Rivas in Columbia on August 13.

Despite being one of the top two fighters in the Bridgerweight division Lerena, 31, will move into the heavyweight class to keep busy and earn a good purse on the international stage. The southpaw made his pro debut in November 2011 and has won the WBF African, WBC Youth Silver, South African, IBO, Super Four cruiserweight titles, and the WBA Inter Continental heavyweight title.

The 24-year-old Huni (8-0; 4) is a Tongan-Australian from Meadowbrook, Queensland, and won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Amateur championships. He was scheduled to represent Australia at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo but was ruled out due to an injury.

Huni made his pro debut on 22 October 2020 and his most notable fight was against former rugby league player Paul Gallen, whom he stopped in the tenth round in a bruising encounter.

This could be a tough one for Lerena but, being the more experienced fighter, he should win on points over ten rounds.