JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African boxer Dingaan Thobela, a two-weight world champion known as “The Rose of Soweto,” has died, the ministry of sports said on Tuesday. He was 57.
Thobela won the WBO lightweight title in 1990 and the WBA lightweight title in 1993, when he beat American Tony Lopez in a rematch. He moved up to super-middleweight and beat Britain’s Glenn Catley for the WBC belt with a 12th-round stoppage in 2000, his finest moment.
He finished with a professional record of 40 wins, 14 losses and two draws.
Thobela hailed from the famed Johannesburg township of Soweto and was widely popular in his home country as his rise coincided with South African boxing’s heyday in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was one of several world-class Black fighters to emerge during the last years of apartheid, when boxing was one of the few South African sports to allow Black athletes to compete on the world stage and gain international recognition.
Devout Christian doctor, 68, who punched dementia
Xi signs order to promulgate regulations on honors for servicemen
Xi, Peng Liyuan extend Chinese New Year greetings to U.S. Lincoln High School teachers, students
Xi Holds Talks with Sierra Leonean President
Liverpool confirms Arne Slot as Jurgen Klopp's replacement
China urges U.S. to cease sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces
Chinese medics provide free treatment to vulnerable community hosting UN peacekeepers in South Sudan
Build a new world economic order with emerging forces: Italian economist
With Djokovic awaiting the winner, Murray trails Hanfmann at rain
Premier's European tour to bolster ties, ministry says
Minnesota Uber and Lyft driver pay package beats deadline to win approval in Legislature
Mozambique inaugurates Chinese