South African great Dingaan Thobela has passed away at the age of 57. In Scandinavia (where this writer is based) Thobela is unfortunately mainly remembered for the bad beating he soaked up against Mikkel Kessler back in 2002 in a fight for the IBA super middleweight title.
But it is for his career at much lighter weights “The Rose of Soweto” should be remembered for. He won the WBO lightweight title in 1990 by beating Mauricio Aceves and defended the crown twice. Thobela lost to Tony Lopez in 1993 but won the rematch only for the downfall to start in 1994, with back to back losses to Olzubek Nazarov..
Dingaan tried to return the same year and fought English journeyman Karl Taylor, 11-22 coming in, and lost in a huge upset and from then on Thobela blew hot and cold, moved up to welterweight where he lost to Geoff McCreesh and Willy Wise and battling weight was a constant problem.
Then in 2000 – clearly overweight – he beat Glenn Catley to capture the WBC super middleweight title. He was no super middle and lost the title in his first defence – and lost his last seven fights before retiring in 2006 with a record of 40-14-2..
In Denmark, Thobela is unfortunately also remembered for “escaping” after the weigh-in from a fight against Mads Larsen in 2003 – apparently after panicking when he saw the good shape Larsen was in.
