HIGHLY ranked minimumweight Joey Canoy finally gets a shot at becoming a mandatory challenger as he battles at World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight title eliminator against former world title challenger Siyakholwa Kuse on March 28, 2026, at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Canoy and Kuse were originally scheduled to face each other last Oct. 4, 2025, but the fight didn’t push through. Kuse instead challenged WBC minimumweight champion Melvin Jerusalem.
Kuse was outclassed by Jerusalem and lost by unanimous decision.
Canoy, on the other hand, sat out the rest of 2025.
The 32-year-old Canoy fought just once last year. He won via a 10th-round technical knockout and claimed the WBC International minimumweight strap.
Canoy is ranked No. 1 by the WBC, No. 6 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 8 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), and No. 9 by the World Boxing Association (WBA).
Despite falling short in his world title fight with Jerusalem, the 22-year-old Kuse remained highly ranked by the WBC at No. 2.
Canoy is 24-5-2 with 15 knockouts, while Kuse is 9-3-1 with four knockouts. / EKA