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Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena says he is extremely delighted that his fight against Ryad Merhy at the Hall des Expositions in Charleroi, Belgium, tomorrow night, will be televised live by both the SABC and SuperSport.
The two media houses will broadcast the bout at 10.30pm on SABC 2 and DStv channel 209 on SuperSport.
“It’s great that my fight will be televised on national television,” Lerena told Sowetan yesterday. “I look forward to all my supporters being able to tune in on SABC and SuperSport; that makes me very happy.”
The SABC occasionally televises international, high-profile boxing matches hosted outside the country.
Major international title fights such as the Canelo Álvarez vs Edgar Berlanga bout have been broadcast live on SABC 2 and streamed on SABC+, though local premium rights for international boxing are predominantly held by subscription networks like SuperSport.
Lerena will put his WBC bridgerweight title on the line for the second time.
It will be his first defence away from home, where he stopped Ukrainian Serhiy Radchenko in three rounds at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria on May 1 2025.
Lerena and Merhy, the Ivorian-born Belgian-French former WBA regular cruiserweight world champion will be meeting for the second time.
Lerena defeated Merhy on points at Emperors Palace in 2023 to win the vacant WBC Silver bridgerweight title. He was crowned as the WBC bridgerweight world champion on October 8 2024.
Lawrence Okolie was the champion and was supposed to defend against Lerena, who was the mandatory challenger. However, the Englishman vacated the title, and the WBC Championship Committee upgraded Lerena’s status to that of the fully fledged world champion.
Trained by Peter “Sniper” Smith − a former heavyweight top contender − Lerena became the first African to win that belt in the bridgerweight division created in 2020 by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman to accommodate small heavyweight boxers. It is a division between the cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Lerena is looking for a definitive stoppage in enemy territory.
Sowetan