Ryad Merhy Beats Kevin Lerena To Win WBC Title

Ryad Merhy gained his revenge and the WBC Bridgerweight title in Charleroi, taking a unanimous decision over Kevin Lerena after twelve rounds that were rarely spectacular but increasingly clear in their direction.

The three judges scored it 116-112, 117-111 and 115-113 for Merhy, and there could be little complaint with the verdict. Lerena, the South African southpaw who had beaten Merhy on points in their first meeting in 2023, surrendered his belt after a performance that never quite caught fire. He had travelled to Belgium as champion, but by the end, he looked like a man trying to hold back a tide with a teaspoon.

Merhy did not win this by turning the contest into a brawl. That might have been the expectation from a fighter with his reputation for heavy hands, but the Belgian was cleverer than that. He was busier, lighter on his feet, more willing to put punches together, and for long spells, he made Lerena look ponderous. The home fighter’s work was not always clean, but there was enough of it, and enough variation to leave Lerena chasing rather than dictating.

The early rounds were cautious, as these rematches often are. Lerena tried to establish the southpaw jab and find room for the straight left, but Merhy was the more fluent operator. He moved well, stepped in with both hands, and refused to give Lerena the same static target he had been able to measure three years ago at Emperors Palace. The champion’s opening plan was sensible enough, but sensible plans need sharp execution, and too much of Lerena’s work came one punch at a time.

The first real jolt came in the third round, when Merhy caught Lerena with a right hand that briefly changed the mood of the fight. Lerena answered quickly enough to show he was not badly hurt, but it was a telling moment. It showed Merhy could get there, and it also suggested Lerena would have to take more risks if he wanted to keep control of the contest. He never quite did.

Through the middle rounds, Merhy grew in confidence. Lerena kept coming forward, but forward motion is not the same as command. He missed badly with a couple of heavy shots in the sixth, leaving himself off balance, and although he landed a decent straight left, Merhy answered with combinations and kept nicking the exchanges. It was not thrilling work, but it was effective work, and judges tend to like a fighter who finishes the conversation.

By the seventh, Lerena’s right eye was marked, and he was beginning to hold when Merhy went to the body. That was one of the more important tactical details of the fight. Merhy had not merely outboxed him at range; he had made him uncomfortable downstairs, where Lerena’s responses became more about survival and interruption than clean counter-punching.

Lerena did have a late rally of sorts. He raised the tempo in the tenth and had moments in the eleventh, but they came in bursts rather than sustained spells. Merhy, by then, had banked enough rounds and was still alert enough not to let the champion back in. Lerena needed urgency in the last round, perhaps even desperation, but he could not summon the finish required. He took decent shots to the head and never looked like going down, which says something for his toughness, but toughness alone does not keep a world title.

The result lifted Merhy to 36 wins and three defeats, while Lerena fell to 31 wins and five defeats. More importantly, it reversed the story of their first meeting. In 2023, Lerena had outthought Merhy in South Africa. This time, in Belgium, Merhy made the adjustments. He was busier, sharper in patches, and more complete over the distance.

For Lerena, this was a damaging defeat in a division still fighting for full recognition. The Bridgerweight class needs clarity and credible champions if it is to grow beyond boxing’s usual alphabet confusion, and Merhy now has the belt and the platform. He did not win it with fireworks, but he won it properly. Sometimes that is more than enough.