[2] Lerena was scheduled to face the one-time WBA World light heavyweight title challenger Roberto Bolonti on June 11, 2016.
Meroro appeared to go down easy, while led fight promoter Rodney Berman to withhold his purse and state: "He quit, plain and simple".
[8] Lerena was scheduled to face Maxim Maslov for the vacant IBO cruiserweight title on August 12, 2017, at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
Kalenga threw a great volume of hooks and power punches in the early rounds, which were awarded to him on all three of the judges cards.
[12] Lerena made the first defense of his IBO title against the #13 ranked WBC cruiserweight contender Dmytro Kucher.
[14] True to their word, promoter Golden Gloves scheduled Lerena to face Roman Golovashchenko in his second IBO cruierserweight title defense.
Lerena scored the sole knockdown of the fight in the fifth round, dropping Golovashchenko with a left hand, although he was unable to finish his opponent.
[21] Lerena was scheduled to make his fifth IBO title defense against Sefer Seferi on September 21, 2019, at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
Lerena staggered his opponent with a left hook, and landed a number of unanswered punches, which forced Arslan's corner to throw in the towel.
[24] Lerena was scheduled to face Patrick Ferguson in a non-title, heavyweight bout on December 19, 2020, at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
[28] Lerena is scheduled to face the one-time unified heavyweight title challenger Mariusz Wach on September 17, 2022, at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
[30] Lerena challenged Daniel Dubois for the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title on Dec 3, 2022 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
[33][34] Lerena faced the former WBA (Regular) cruiserweight titleholder Ryad Merhy in a WBC bridgerweight title eliminator on May 13, 2023, at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
[36] Having been named mandatory challenger, Lerena became WBC bridgerweight champion on 8 October 2024, after Lawrence Okolie vacated the title.