HIGHLY-ranked minimumweight Joey Canoy gets a different opponent and will fight for a different title in his fight on Oct. 4, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Instead of fighting Siyakholwa Kuse in a World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight world title eliminator, the 32-year-old Canoy will now face Zimbabwean Beaven Sibanda for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) International minimumweight strap.
Canoy is eagerly waiting for a world title shot after being highly ranked for quite some time now. He’s rated No. 3 by the WBC, No. 7 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 10 by IBF, and No. 14 by the World Boxing Association (WBA).
Canoy won seven fights in a row and is coming off a 10th-round stoppage of Minh Phat Sam to win the WBC International minimumweight belt.
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Sibanda is a promising minimumweight prospect that has fought some elite African opponents like Kuse and Nhlanhla Tyirha. He lost to Kuse by majority decision in a WBC Silver minimumweight contest last year and defeated Tyirha by split decision earlier this year. He’s coming off a fifth-round knockout of Pinoy Richard Garde to win the IBF International minimumweight belt.
Sibanda is ranked No. 5 by the WBC and No. 9 by the IBF.
Canoy is 24-5-2 with 15 knockouts, while Sibanda is 9-1 with three knockouts.
Also seeing action in the same show are former world title challenger Froilan Saludar and All Rivera.
Saludar (37-8-1, 26 KOs), the 14th ranked bantamweight by the World Boxing Association (WBA), trades leathers with International Boxing Organization (IBO) Youth bantamweight title holder Charlton Malajika (8-1, 3 KOs) in a 10-rounder.
On the other hand, Rivera (23-5, 18 KOs) slugs it out with South African prospect Donjuan Van Heerden (10-3, 7 KOs) in a middleweight contest. / EKA