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Siyakholwa “One Way” Kuse stands to kill two birds with one stone if he succeeds in dethroning reigning WBC mini flyweight world champion, Melvin “El Gringo” Jerusalem, on Saturday night.
Johannesburg-based Kuse, from Mdantsane, would become the first boxer from the Eastern Cape to win the most-sought-after green and gold WBC belt.
He would also become the second local boxer to achieve that feat on local soil — the first being Dingaan “Rose of Soweto” Thobela — who won that organisation’s super middleweight title in Brakpan in 2000.
To cap it all, Kuse would join a short list of SA boxers who have held that belt. They are Thulani “Sugar Boy” Malinga (who won the super middleweight belt twice), Thobela and Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena, who is the reigning bridgerweight holder.
In fact, Lerena, is the first African to win that belt in a weight division that was created by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman in 2020. It is a weight division between cruiserweight and heavyweight classes.
Sulaiman will be at ringside when Kuse takes on the Filipino champion in the main event of Golden Gloves “One Way to Redemption” tournament at Emperors Palace.
We will do the same things we did last time but put some power punches so we can knock him out
— Siyakholwa 'One Way' Kuse
It will be the second time Kuse tries to unseat Jerusalem, who retained his title via unanimous points decision at home in the Philippines last October.
Born and bred in Mdantsane — home to many IBF world champions including Welcome “Hawk” Ncita — Kuse will enjoy home-ground advantage.
The judges are Thabo Spampool (SA), Filipino Jerrold Tomeldan and David Irving from Northern Ireland. Maybin Kante from Zambia will be the referee.
SA’s best boxing tutor, Manny Fernandes, will bark instructions to Kuse in the corner, while former pro boxer Michael Domingo will plan Jerusalem’s fourth successful defence of the belt he won in 2024.
Manny [Fernandes] was cooking for me during the last week of training since I was dropping weight. Manny knows which ingredients to mix for us to retain power while dropping weight
— Kuse
“I did nothing wrong that needed to be corrected going into this fight on Saturday,” Kuse told Sowetan yesterday. “It was my first time to fight outside home and also my first time to fight for a world title. We will do the same things we did last time but put some power punches so we can knock him out.”
Tyla Promnick and Thobela Nyanda will fight for the vacant SA mini flyweight belt. There will be a 10-round non-title fight between Sibusiso Zingange and Ntethekelo Nkosi, with two heavyweight bouts — Akani Phuz vs Juan Alabert and Johnny Muller vs Jose Kadima — as part of the card.
The tournament will be broadcast live by SuperSport on DStv channel 209 from 7pm.
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