Brave Kevin Lerena pushes Justis Huna to the limits, but loses on points

Kevin Lerena, mourning the death of his mother the day before, nearly pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind stoppage win in Riyadh on Friday night, but in the end lost on points to Australian heavyweight Justis Huni.

Southpaw Lerena, behind on points going into the final 10th round, landed a left hand that had Huni, a 2019 world championship superheavyweight bronze medallist, swaying on unsteady legs.

Lerena moved in for the kill, but he couldn’t land a coup de grace that might have given his heavyweight ambition momentum.

Two judges scored the fight 96-94 for Huni while the third had it 98-92, which was a ridiculously wide margin.

Lerena’s record dropped to 30 wins and three defeats while Huni’s improved to 9-0.

Despite the gulf in experience, Lerena was billed the underdog and called to the ring at the Kingdom arena first.

But the South African, outweighed by 5kg, pressed the action from the opening bell, backing Huni into the ropes and offloading some good shots.

Lerena’s jab was effective in the early exchanges, but it was a right hook in the second round that stunned the Australian, who did well to fight his way back before the bell.

But from the third round Lerena’s intensity and work-rate dropped markedly, and Huni looked more comfortable from that point on, moving well and frequently finding his way through Lerena’s guard.

He bloodied Lerena’s nose in the sixth round and continued banking points with his opponent’s work-rate too low.

In the corner after the ninth round Lerena’s trainer, Peter Smith, pleaded with his fighter to let his hands go.

Lerena didn’t follow that advice, but he waited for the opening before striking with his left hand, scrambling Huni’s senses.

The Australian stayed on his feet, but he was in a fight for survival from then until the final bell.

Lerena, whose mother died on Thursday, offered no excuses afterwards. “There's no such thing as good timing when somebody dies ... I came out here for my mom, in her honour ... Emotionally it was tough, but you can’t take away any credit from this young man.

“He’s a tough competitor. I had him hurt in the first or second and the 10th, so testament to my guts ...

“When I had him hurt, I should have finished him. But kudos to him, he stayed up like a tough lion, a young lion ...

“My performance tonight isn’t based on the loss of my mom. He boxed better tonight, but I probably had him hurt more ... but back to the drawing board, you know.”

Lerena is still in line for a crack at the WBC world title in the fledgling bridgerweight division, which is just below heavyweight.