Boxing legend Dingaan Thobela has died. The former three-time world champion was 57.
According to media reports, Thobela was found dead in his apartment in Mayfair, Johannesburg. He had been battling ill health for some time.
Sterling boxing record
Born in Chiawelo, he became a household name in the 1990s when he defeated Mexican Mauricio Aceves to win the WBO lightweight crown in Brownsville, Texas, in the US.
In 1993, he pummeled American Tony Lopez at Sun City, in the North West, to lift the WBA lightweight title.
In September 2000, Thobela won the super middleweight title of the World Boxing Council. He bowed out of professional boxing in 2006, having won 40 fights, lost 14, and had two draws.
The entrepreneur also ran Rose Funerals, which mainly served clients in Soweto.
Sport, arts and culture minister Zizi Kodwa was not available for comment by the time of publication.
Attempts to solicit comment from Boxing South Africa’s accounting authority’s Mandla Ntlanganiso drew a blank. The story will be updated as soon as they have commented.
Youth development programme
In 2021, Thobela and another boxing icon, Brian Mitchel, announced that they were teaming up and would start a development programme to uplift the youth and upcoming fighters in the country.
They said they were working on finding a formula to revive and create interest in the sport of fisticuffs.
“We are still talking and still in the planning stages. But the project is definitely going ahead. We want to come up with an integrated development programme across the country,” said Thobela.
“We want to reignite the interest in boxing because it was one of the big“We want to reignite the interest in boxing because it was one of the biggest sports in the country during our days. In fact, boxing used to be the number-two sport in the country after soccer. So, we are putting our heads together to revive the game,” said Thobela.
