Daily Tribune
DEFENDING WBC strawweight champion Melvin Jerusalem (right) comes in at 104.4 pounds while South African challenger Siyakholwa Kuse steps in at 104.7 pounds for their title fight in Johannesburg at the start of midnight of Sunday.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JC Mananquil
Melvin Jerusalem didn’t travel to South Africa to hand the World Boxing Council (WBC) strawweight crown to challenger Siyakholwa Kuse on a silver platter.
“I came here to successfully defend my belt,” Jerusalem said after weighin in at 104.4 pounds on the eve of his scheduled 12-rounder with Kuse, who stepped on the scales at 104.7 pounds.
The fight takes place at midnight at the start of Sunday at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg.
Jerusalem arrived in Johannesburg on 30 April alongside chief trainer Michael Domingo.
Promoter JC Mananquil blew into town a few days ago to join the final phase of the preparation of Jerusalem’s fourth defense of the WBC 105-poiund title.
After winning it from Yudai Shigeoka in 2024, Jerusalem repulsed mandatory Mexican challenger Luis Castillo in Manila in September of the same year and Shigeoka in a rematch in Nagoya in March 2025.
Last October, during the 50th anniversary of the Thrilla in Manila at the Araneta Coliseum, Jerusalem beat Kuse on points in a highly-competitive match.
Jerusalem enters the ring with a 25-3-0 win-loss-draw record with 12 knockouts while the southpaw Kuse sports a 9-3-1 mark with four knockouts.
The WBC has appointed judges from the Philippines, South Africa and England while the referee is from Zambia and the fight supervisor is South African.
The Filipino judge is Jerrold Tomeldan and the South African is Thabo Spampool and the British judge is David Irving.
Maybon Kante of Zambia is the third man on the ring and Malefetsane Ngatane, from South Africa, is the fight supervisor.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is also in South Africa, according to Mananquil, who feels the arrival of the boxing body’s president as some sort of a protection against biased officiating.
If Jerusalem repeats over Kuse, his team will pursue a unification fight with Puerto Rico’s Oscar Collazo, the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association titleholder, who intends to become undisputed champion.
But if Kuse beats Jerusalem, Mananquil said an immediate rematch will take place based on an agreement that both camps had agreed to sign.
