Greatest South African boxers

The best we've had was imho Brian Mitchell (45-1-3), and it's clear cut. He beat every man he faced and his skills were simply superb. He could stand right in the pocket and slip punches and sock back some beautiful combinations led by a fine shotgun jab He was only off his feet twice in his entire career by Rivera and never KO'd.

After that ... it's a sort of pickem.

Sugarboy Malinga comes to mind. Dingaan Thobela, another shout-out. I grew up watching Charlie Wier, a murderous puncher (31-3, 28KO) that I was firmly convinced was invincible, until Davey Moore put that idea to rest. Damn, I loved the Silver Assassin. Phillip Ndou (37-5, 34 KO) is another fine slugger. Baby Jake (4'10') Matlala (53-13) was a much loved boxer that came good at the end of his career. He was fun to watch.

In the heavies it's between Sanders and Coetzee, and personally I think Sanders was a cut above Coetzee.

Right now there's not much happening. We had high hopes for Tommy Oosthuizen but that train sort of derailed itself.

 

I'd go -

1. Mitchell
2. Toweel
3. Martlata
4. Baby Jake
5. Bungu
6. Coetzee
7. Malinga
8. Thubela
9. Stevens
10.Tuti
with Botha bubbling under.

 

The Toweel brothers, Willie and Vic are the first I thought of. Vic winning the world bantamweight title and Willie fighting a draw for the title at 118 but then moving up to become a world-rated lightweight. An immense boxing family as well with promoters and trainers amidst the family.

 

I was recently doing some research on South African boxers.

I don't know if he was THE BEST, but the most popular South African boxer in the 1970s (and maybe ever) was Elijah "Tap Tap" Makhathini.

Makhthini was featured regularly on South African boxing telecasts. When the country finally got a national television station (that could be viewed by the whole country) in the mid '70s, he became the most popular television fighter in his country, among both whites and blacks. (Apparently, he was an action fighter, maybe along the lines of Gatti.)

Makhatini was also the winner of the first white vs. black title fight in South Africa during Apartheid.

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He never won titles beyond the South African belts. He won both the "Non-White" black championship and the 'Supreme' title (all races). However, during his heyday, he scored wins over Emile Griffith, Curtis Cokes, Charlie Weir, Gary Guiden and Billy Douglas (Buster's dad).

Most of his losses (and his biggest wins) came after he was in his mid 30s. (Old for a junior middleweight/middleweight at the time). But he didn't turn pro until he was nearly 30.

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/11421

Interesting guy you never really hear about these days, even though he's apparently still alive. (Would be in his late 70s now.)

 

Wow, Tap-Tap brings back memories. When I think of '70s South African boxing I think of Tap-Tap, Andries Steyn, Norman 'Panga Man' Sekapane and 'Happy Boy' Mgaxi. I also recall a pretty good banger who fought Kostya Tszu named Jan Bergman. He was a lot like Charlie Weir I think. A major banger, but not too resilient.

 

I'd say Matlala is one of the continents finest, especially considering the massive size advantage he gave up to everyone he fought. He has a fine cuts victory against a still very dangerous Micheal Carbajal where he was throwing 130, 140 punches in multiple rounds, and if the bout had continued, he would have broken the all time punch stat record set by Padilla. A terribly underrated fighter in my opinion, with a lot of nuance and skill to his game.

 

I forgot about the Toweels. Doh. Yeah, they're right up there.

 

Malinga would probably be a far more well known and highly thought of name if the poor man had ever been given a break in his career. Talk about a hard luck fighter.

 

Bergman was fun! Man, could he punch. When people say "explosive" they mean guys like him.

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/15509

He was 44-5 and 33 KO's. I remember the Baranov fight on TV and I was extremely impressed with the grit Baranov showed. Couldn't believe that the guy kept getting up.

 

No Pierre Fourie? IMO sort of like a Joey Maxim light.

 

Can't believe I forgot Fourie. What a talent he was. Would definitely make my top 10 SA list. Just mulling over a few others that were decent but don't think they would make the top ten - Peter Mathebula, Arnold Taylor, Blakeney Matthews, Harold Volbrecht and going way back there was a decent heavy that fought out of the 30's named Ben Foord who wasn't bad at all.

 

Some great posts in this one already! Really enjoying this one, some great and lesser known fighters being talked about and discussed.

 

Charlie Weir would be a Edwin Valero type nowadays (Without the psycho tendencies, as in a touted on prime time/HBO foreign power puncher) the man would be so easy to promote, even more so than he was in his own day and age. He'd be a total star now.