Our own SBW

From Sharksworld

In a pretty left-field move, former boxer Kevin “The KO Kid” Lerena has joined the Sharks squad and looks set for game time in the Vodacom Cup.

Yes, yes, I know… the 1st of April was yesterday and I’m conscious of the fact that this story seems even less plausible than the one Warren came up with as an April Fools joke. Details regarding Lerena’s rugby career at junior level are sketchy indeed; all we know is that he attended King Edwards in Johannesburg and played a bit of junior ruby for the Lions before opting to chuck it all in, in favour of a career as a cruiserweight boxer. Lerena is undefeated in six fights, five of those by knock-out.

Exactly how and why the big inside centre ended up returning to rugby and moreover pulling off a deal with the Sharks is a mystery indeed. I’m told the lad is something of a “physical freak” and assuming he’s still eligible to play under 21 rugby (which he may be), could fill a bit of a gap in the number 12 jersey for that side. He is a big unit at 110kg and can box, unlike SBW

We await further details regarding the move and exactly what the future plans are for Kevin. For the time being, though, we know he’s training with both the Super Rugby and Vodacom Cup squads and expect to see him given a shot at game time in the near future. Welcome to Durban, Kevin. Let’s hope it all works out.

@saffex,

reports inmdicate that hes a tealented boxer fighting in the cruiser weight, so that makes him roughly 90kg, once he puts on rugby weight, he should be able to make 100kg quite easily.

im wondering if u know how tall he is???

He is 6'1 and weighs 105kg, says he weighed 110kg when he played rugby. Some of his fights are on Youtube. My guess is that he fights in a different weight division now

You could take him Dave, he doesn't have big shoulders.

Dave's second post on this thread containing the photo of Kevin looks exactly like SBW in terms of pec shape! They both have long, pointy pecs as opposed to the traditional square pecs of shorter guys. Lets hope he has the power of SBW.

This is the first I hear of a Kevin Larena in my life and cant find anything linking him with the Sharks on the net. If this is true, the coaches have even less faith in Fransie than I thought.

Could this kid not be another SBW on the field and in terms of his committment to any 1 sport? Like SBW, he may just aspire to be a jack of all trades and make a name for himself. Either way, if he is the real deal, Sharks could sure use him at 12 about now!

 Can he offload in the tackle or is he just a crashball version of SBW.

He has not played any rugby for two years and nobody knows whether he can play the game at all.   Unlike Saffex believes - rugby requires both brawn and brains, so will he makes the grade?  Have to see what he can do at Vodadcom level.  

If he can make he grade there - he might just move up to Super 15 level - since Francois Steyn at 12 has already past the slippery slope stage and may be confined to 15 - if Plumtree means what he said.

No-one knows anything about his playing credentials, but he must have something about him for the Sharks to show an interest. Who knows, time will tell. The only thing we do know is that he is young, big and wont stand back from a fight!!

At least he can throw a punch, unlike SBW