{"id":679394,"date":"2026-05-18T21:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/679394\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T21:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:18:14","slug":"getting-to-know-the-new-wbc-strawweight-champion-siyakholwa-kuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/679394\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Know the New WBC Strawweight Champion Siyakholwa Kuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting to Know the New WBC Strawweight Champion Siyakholwa Kuse<\/p>\n

\u00a0Siyakholwa Kuse defeated Melvin Jerusalem by unanimous decision to capture the WBC Strawweight World Championship at Kempton Park in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kuse made his professional debut in June 2018 with a third-round knockout victory and from the early stages of his career, began building an ascending\u00a0 path in the strawweight division.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The South African captured the Boxing South Africa South African Strawweight Title on three occasions.<\/p>\n

On December 3, 2023, \u201cSiya\u201d claimed his first international championship by winning the African Boxing Union straw weight title after knocking out Halid Kalama in the eighth round.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One year later came his first WBC title. In December 2024, Kuse engaged in a true 12-round war against Beaven Sibanda, emerging victorious to win the WBC Silver Strawweight Championship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0His first world title opportunity arrived in October 2025 when he traveled to the Philippines to face Jerusalem for the world title. Despite delivering a strong performance, Kuse lost a close fight that left the door open for a rematch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That second opportunity finally came this Saturday at home, where the South African did not let the biggest moment of his career slip away.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI feel extremely happy. When I turned professional, I told myself: \u2018I need that Green and Gold\u00a0 belt.\u2019 I saw other champions with WBO, WBA, or IBF titles, but I always wondered why the WBC belt was so special.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201dI went after it, today I have it with me, and I couldn\u2019t be happier,\u201d Kuse said after the fight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The new champion also recalled the uncertainty he experienced following the defeat in the Philippines, thanking the support of his team and promoter Rodney Berman, who promised to bring the rematch to South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhen I lost in the Philippines, I admit I was afraid of what my promoter might think. But he came to me and said: \u2018You fought very well, son, I\u2019ll give you a bonus and we\u2019ll bring that belt to South Africa next year.\u2019 At that moment I didn\u2019t believe it, but Uncle Rodney proved that he keeps his promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kuse also acknowledged Jerusalem\u2019s quality, although he admitted that this time he had to completely change his mentality inside the ring.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI want to thank him for coming to South Africa and giving me the rematch. He is a great boxer and I have enormous respect for him. But this time my hunger for victory was so great that I told myself: \u2018I can\u2019t respect this man once we are inside the ring.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0With this victory, Siyakholwa Kuse writes one of the most important chapters in recent South African boxing history and establishes himself as the new world champion holding aloft the prestigious Green and Gold Belt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Loading\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getting to Know the New WBC Strawweight Champion Siyakholwa Kuse \u00a0Siyakholwa Kuse defeated Melvin Jerusalem by unanimous decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-679394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}