Mdantsane’s Siyakholwa Kuse jetted out to the Philippines on Tuesday with the double mission of realising his world title dream and breaking the curse of Eastern Cape boxers never having won a WBC title.
Kuse will challenge Filipino Melvin Jerusalem for the WBC mini-flyweight belt — considered the most coveted in boxing — on Wednesday next week.
The fight, at the Araneta Coliseum in Barangay Cubao, Quezon City, will form the fulcrum of activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary “Thrilla in Manila”, in which Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier clashed at the same venue for the world heavyweight title in one of the greatest bouts of all time.
This has stacked the odds against Kuse, who is viewed as just an opponent to fill part of the script designed to celebrate the Philippines’ big moment.
While he is a mandatory challenger, Kuse’s novice record of just 12 bouts with two losses and a draw makes him a safe opponent for local hero Jerusalem, whose ledger of 27 fights renders him a big favourite.
No Eastern Cape boxer has won the coveted WBC belt in four previous attempts, starting in 1997, when Mzukisi Marali was the first to make the effort.
Marali travelled to Thailand to try to unseat Saman Sarjaturong for the WBC junior-flyweight title but came up short when he was stopped in four rounds.
Next in line was Mhikiza Myekeni, who travelled to Thailand in a bid to win the same title but lost a unanimous decision to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in November 2006.
The fight was to prove the last for Myekeni, who was involved in a career-ending car crash a few weeks later. He passed away in 2022 after suffering a lengthy illness.
A year later, it was Simpiwe Vetyeka’s turn when he lost a WBC bantamweight title challenge against Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan.
It took 12 years for another Eastern Cape boxer to get a WBC title shot, when Mthatha’s Simpiwe Konkco travelled to Thailand to challenge for the same belt Kuse has set his sights on.
Konkco suffered a one-sided loss to Chayaphon Moonsri, after being dropped in the first and seventh rounds in 2019.
But Kuse’s camp is confident of flipping the script and ending the barren run.
His trainer, Manny Fernandez, said they had detected Jerusalem’s weaknesses which Kuse would exploit and bring home the belt.
“I know everything is arranged for Jerusalem to win and the fact that we are heavy underdogs bears testimony, but we are going there to make history for SA,” he said.
“Kuse’s southpaw stance will prove too much for Jerusalem, and don’t forget that SA boxers generally do well against Filipinos.”
Indeed, SA boxers do tend to dominate their Filipino counterparts — but only when fighting at home.
SA hardly ships boxers to the Pinoy nation, with the statistics showing zero success.
Besides being a left hander, Kuse’s other advantage is youth as at 25 he is Jerusalem’s junior by six years.
Daily Dispatch
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