After guiding Siyakholwa Kuse to World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight glory last month, accomplished trainer Manny Fernandes is smelling another green and gold belt as his boxer Ricardo ‘Magic Man’ Malajika will go into battle against Japanese boxer Tomoya Tsuboi in a vacant WBC junior-bantamweight title fight in three months’ time.
The title became vacant after Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodríguez relinquished it before he won the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight by stopping his American compatriot Antonio Vargas in the sixth round on Sunday morning, South African time.
“Definitely, we have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. Rodríguez had a good win, that shows that the division is now open. We expect a very big performance from Ricardo. We’ve got another WBC champion in the way,” Fernandes said.
Fernandes led Kuse to a unanimous points decision victory over Filipino boxer Melvin Jerusalem at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, last month.
Meanwhile, Malajika the current International Boxing Organisation (IBO) junior-bantamweight champion, is rated number two and Tsuboi, who has won all his three professional fights with two of those wins being stoppages, occupies the number one spot in the WBC ratings. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
