There will be no rematch between Siyakholwa Kuse and Beaven Sibanda following their fight at the Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, on Friday evening.
This was said by Golden Gloves managing director Rodney Berman after Kuse defeated Sibanda on points to claim the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver minimumweight title.
Two judges Francis Chirwa from Zambia and South African Ben Ncapai had Kuse winning the fight by 117-111 and 115-114 respectively while Zimbabwean Gloria Dera’s score card read 114-114.
“This is what boxing needs. If you keep maintaining it like this, then boxing will thrive. You’ve got to have the best against the best. There will be no rematch. Both guys will go to bigger things after they showed their mettle as fighters,” Berman said.
“Brian Mitchell is representing us at the WBC convention. What we are gonna do is to try get Kuse as a mandatory challenger to the WBC title. Of course, we want to make sure that Sibanda keeps his WBC rating or move up the ratings.”
Kuse, who is the outgoing South African and African Boxing Union (ABU) minimumweight champion, is rated fifth by the WBC while Zimbabwean-born Sibanda, who lost for the first time on Friday, is nine places below him. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
