1 hour ago
20
Apartheid denied SA the golden opportunity to host the World Boxing Association (WBA) junior lightweight match between Panamanian Alfredo Layne and Brian Mitchell.
This fight had to be taken to Bophuthatswana because that homeland had been declared independent by the apartheid regime.
Mitchell dethroned Layne via a 10th round knockout. That happened 38 years ago today (September 27) 1986 in front of a big crowd at Sun City Superbowl.
Mitchell became the fourth WBA belt holder. Others were Peter “Terror” Mathebula (flyweight in 1980), Coetzee (heavyweight in 83) and Piet Crous (cruiserweight in 1984).
Inter-racial fights were banned in 1973 by Piet Koornhof after being appointed as sport minister by the apartheid government in 1972.
Pierre Fourie became the first white boxer to fight against a non-white opponent — Bob Forster — on August 21 1973. The American retained the WBA, WBC and The Ring light heavyweight titles.
The first two multiracial SA title fights were held at Rand Stadium on November 27 1976 with Gerrie Coetzee and Elijah “Tap Tap” Makhathini becoming the new undisputed champions.
Coetzee knocked out James “Dynamite” Mathatho while Makhathini stopped Jan Kies for the supreme SA middleweight title.
Three years later 82,000 black and white fans gathered at Loftus Versfeld to watch the WBA heavyweight title fight between African-American “Big” John Tate and and a white Afrikaner, Coetzee, for the title vacated by Muhammad Ali when he retired.
White South Africans were behind Coetzee while their black counterparts opted for Tate due to the colour of his skin. They were not impressed with Tate for breaking the sports boycott and showing disregard for the plight of black people.
Tate defeated Coetzee by unanimous points on October 20 1979. A few years later SA junior lightweight champion Mitchell met Jacob “Dancing Shoes” Morake in what was their fourth fight at Sun City on November 2 1985.
The champion knocked out the challenger in the 12th round. Morake collapsed in his corner and was rushed to a hospital in Pretoria where he died the following day of head injuries.
Mitchell never fought against a white South African in his whole career. His bravery in going to townships around the country and to win fights there earned him huge respect and admiration.
SowetanLIVE
