CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s Kevin Lerena retained his IBO cruiserweight title with an unanimous points win over Germany-based Ukrainian Roman Golovashchenko at the Sarhadci Olympic Center in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday evening.
The neutral judges scored the fight 115-112 (twice) and 116-112.
'Two Guns' Lerena suffered a cut below his left eye in the second round but smart work by his corner allowed to carry on without obvious problems. He dropped Golovashchenko in a later round in the only knockdown in the bout.
AND STILL IBO CHAMPION OF THE WORLD 🌎🏆 I’m truly humbled by all the support . Thank you all so much 🙏🏻 Onwards & Upwards from here #NothingCanStopMe #Andstill #WorldChamp pic.twitter.com/t95lsJFUMB
— Kevin Lerena (@KevinLerena) June 3, 2018
After three somewhat subdued opening rounds, the southpaw Lerena came into his own from the fourth round and from that point onwards he imposed himself on the 12-rounder.
It was Lerena's second defence of the title he won in September 2017 when he claimed a split points decision against Congo's Youri Kalenga at Emperors Palace.