One of South Africa’s top ring officials, Eddie Marshall from Cape Town, passed away last week just short of his 69th birthday.
It has been reported that Eddie had been ill for the past two years. I can remember chatting to the soft-spoken gentleman at ringside on several occasions.
He served boxing with distinction over 50 years, and it has been reported that as an amateur he only lost 11 of a reported 300 fights.
His son Elroy said he was a good person who was also helpful to everybody and that we must celebrate his legacy as he had a wonderful life.
Eddie was also active in the community as head of the Portland Community Sports Centre. Speaking to Howard Goldberg, the president of the World Boxing Federation who is in Poland for a WBF title fight, he said Eddie was an incredible man and one of the best boxing officials around.
He went on to say he was “One of the most loyal men I have ever met”.
According to Boxrec ,Eddie was the referee in 60 international title fights.