Siyakholwa Kuse survived a flash knockdown in the 11th round to take the World Boxing Council minimumweight crown from a bloodied Melvin Jerusalem at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.
The three judges had the South African winning by unanimous decision, with scores of 116-111, 116-112 and even 115-112 by the Filipino judge.
Kuse, who had lost his first shot against Jerusalem on points in Manila last year, stamped his control on the fight in the seventh round by outboxing and outpunching his opponent.
The first six rounds were a fistic chess match, with the two fighters trading single punches, with not too many combinations to speak of.
Jerusalem, whose left eye was cut early in the third round from a clash of heads, had started on the back foot, trying to catch the challenger on the back foot.
But when he turned aggressor in the second half of the fight, Kuse became the counterpuncher, and that’s when he looked brilliant.
He pawed Jerusalem’s cut with his right jab, ensuring the blood kept flowing to leave Jerusalem’s face a mask of red at times.
Kuse went down briefly in the penultimate round, more from being caught off balance than having his senses scrambled, and he rose quickly, picking up from where he had left off and securing himself an early birthday present — he turns 27 on Tuesday.
The victory improved Kuse’s record to 10 wins, three losses and a draw, and it made him South Africa’s fourth WBC world titleholder after Sugar Boy Malinga, Dingaan Thobela and Kevin Lerena, holder of the bridgerweight crown.
This is the first time South Africa has two WBC champions simultaneously.
Johannesburg-based Kuse is the first boxer from Mdantsane, East London, to win a WBC belt.
Jerusalem dropped to 25-4.
Youngest SA champion
On the undercard, 21-year-old Tyla Promnick became the youngest South African women’s professional boxing champion as she beat Thobela Nyanda on points to take the South African mini-flyweight belt.
The southpaw challenger pressed the action in the first round, but after taking a couple of shots on the counter, she stayed on the outside for most of the second round before pressing again with better effect in the third.
Promnick displayed good head movement, slipping blows and displaying patience before attacking. She started the fourth round charging across the ring at her opponent, and in the fifth she applied pressure, delivering more punishment than she received.
By the seventh the champion was showing signs of fatigue, her mouthguard protruding and throwing lunging jabs.
Nyanda found a second wind and pushed in the eighth, trying to close the gap to get on the inside, where she was her most effective, but Promnick’s persistent pressure shifted the momentum later in the round.
Two judges had Promnick a two-point winner, with the third scoring it a draw for a majority decision that lifted her record to 6-0. Nyanda dropped to 5-2.
It was a fairytale win for Promnick, who started boxing with Alan Toweel when she was 16; for the trainer, she is his fourth national champion.
Brutal knockout
Heavyweight JJ Alberts edged Akani Phuzi by split decision over eight tough rounds fought in the trenches to lift his record to eight wins and a draw.
By the end of the fourth round, Alberts looked exhausted, but somehow he kept pushing forward and trading punches with Phuzi.
There were times his punches lacked snap and shape, yet he refused to stop advancing, displaying the stubbornness of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character.
Phuzi’s record dropped to 14-4.
Congolese heavyweight Jose Kadima scored a frightening first-round knockout of veteran Johnny Muller, putting him down twice before knocking him through the ropes. The felled veteran, his feet caught in the ropes, lay unconscious on the ring apron for a few moments.
Muller, who had his best fights at light-heavyweight and cruiserweight but hadn’t fought for two and a half years, was overmatched against the unbeaten prospect who improved his record to eight, six inside the distance.
Muller, who dropped to 23-12-2, should consider hanging up his gloves.
Former South African junior-lightweight titleholder Sibusiso Zingange and former national junior-welterweight champion Ntethelelo Nkosi fought to an entertaining eight-round draw at catchweight.
The national junior-welterweight belt was originally supposed to be at stake, but Nkosi failed to make the limit.
Andre Mulumba won his first paid contest on points over Cape Town-based Douglas Ntounta.
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