After winning the World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight title in May, history-making Mdantsane boxer Siyakholwa Kuse is now scheduled to defend his crown in two months’ time.
Kuse, who rewrote South African boxing history by becoming the first boxer from the Eastern Cape to rule in the WBC after he outpointed Filipino opponent Melvin Jerusalem at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, is going to make the first defence of his title against top Japanese opponent Ryusei Matsumoto.
The former South African, African Boxing Union (ABU) and WBC Silver minimumweight champion will square up against Matsumoto at a Teiken Promotions tourmanent in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, 27 September.
Matsumoto, who has won all his eight fights, with half of the wins coming from knockouts, is second in the WBC ratings, rated number one by the World Boxing Association (WBA) and is third in the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
The 28-year-old Matsumoto, a Tokyo resident, defeated his Japanese compatriot Yuni Takada in his last two fights held in March this year and last September.
Meanwhile, in the tournament Kuse’s stablemate Ricardo Malajika will face another unbeaten Japanese boxer,Tomoya Tsuboi, in a vacant WBC junior-bantamweight title contest.
Unbeaten in three fights, Tsuboi is number one in the WBC ratings with Malajika, the current International Boxing Organisation (IBO) junior-bantamweight champion, one place below him.
Tsuboi is rated at number three by the WBA, fifth in the IBF and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) ratings. On the other hand, Malajika is 15th in the WBA, 12th in both the IBF and WBO.
