JOEY Canoy will be fighting for the No. 1 minimumweight spot of the World Boxing Council (WBC) in a world title eliminator on enemy territory.
The 32-year-old Canoy will take on South African prospect Siyakholwa Kuse for the WBC Silver minimumweight strap, which also serves as a WBC title eliminator, on Oct. 4, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Canoy has constantly been a top contender in the minimumweight division for some time now. But, somehow, he still hasn’t earned a world title shot.
Canoy is rated No. 3 by the WBC, No. 7 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 10 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), and No. 14 by the World Boxing Association (WBA).
If victorious, Canoy will become the mandatory challenger to his current teammate, WBC minimumweight king Melvin Jerusalem, in a rematch between two friends considered highly unlikely to happen. In 2017, Canoy fought Jerusalem, who was with the ALA Gym at that time, and defeated him by unanimous decision.
Canoy is on an impressive run of seven straight victories since 2022. He’s coming off a 10th-round stoppage of Minh Phat Sam to win the WBC International minimumweight belt.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old Kuse has finally found his stride after two failed bids at the Boxing South Africa minimumweight title. His resurgence has propelled him into the WBC world rankings.
Kuse has won six straight fights, including a majority decision over fellow prospect Beaven Sibanda to claim the WBC Silver minimumweight title last year.
Earlier this year, Kuse won the biggest fight of his career with a unanimous decision upset over Filipino former world title challenger Samuel Salva in South Africa.
Canoy has an impressive record of 24-5-2 with 15 knockouts, while Kuse is 9-2-1 with four knockouts.
Also seeing action on the same card 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), will trade leathers with International Boxing Organization (IBO) Youth bantamweight titleholder Charlton Malajika (8-1, 3 KOs) in a 10-rounder.
On the other hand, Rivera (23-5, 18 KOs) will slug it out with South African prospect Donjuan Van Heerden (10-3, 7 KOs) in a middleweight contest. / EKA