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.
NASCAR star Kyle Larson is embracing his Indianapolis 500 debut, right down to milking a cow
Zendaya wows in a glamorous vintage backless dress as she attends Anna Wintour's star
Congo military releases 2 Kenya Airways staffers held for 2 weeks over cargo dispute
Police search Brussels office of prominent far
Australia as Bangladesh vow to boost trade as foreign ministers meet in Dhaka
German track star Alica Schmidt, dubbed 'the world's sexiest athlete', qualifies for the Olympics
Congo names third American in a foiled coup plot as mourners gather in Utah to remember plot leader
Yu Darvish pitches 5 scoreless innings as the Padres beat the Cubs 6
Weather forecasters warn Pakistanis to stay indoors ahead of new heat wave
Jeannie Epper, 'Wonder Woman' stuntwoman, dies at 83