David Potsane was a double South African champion

It is more than 21 years ago that David Kamohelo Potsane had his last fight and boxing fans have possibly forgotten that he was one of the select band of fighters that won two South African titles.

As a youngster Potsane, who was born on 3 March 1964, joined the Kronk Gym in Sebokeng with Bernard Maketsi as his trainer and it is reported that he won 13 SAA junior championships and as a senior won 8 SAA championships.

With trainer Solly Selebi in his corner he made his pro debut on 29 June 1984 at the Vaal Showgrounds Hall in Vereeniging, scoring a four round points decision over Lawrence Hlatshwayo.

Fighting under the alias “Mixo” he suffered his first loss as a professional against Alan Manuel and fighting to a draw against the capable Jeffrey Mankune. He lost on a majority ten-round points decision against future South African welterweight champion Aron Kabi for the Transvaal lightweight title.

After 15 fights under the guidance of Selebi he decided to join the Norman Hlabane stable and in his first fight with Hlabane he also scored a fourth-round stoppage victory over future South African lightweight champion Danny Myburgh.Potsane won six of his next eight fights with the losses coming against Grant Messias and Aron Kabi in a return fight.On 24 March 1993 at the FNB Stadium in Durban he beat Frederick “Gorilla” Siswana on a split decision to take the South African welterweight title.

Judges Peter Conradt and Eric Moolman scored it 118-110 and 119-113 for Potsane while judge Darryl Ribbink had it 117-114 for Siswana.

Reporting on the fight in the Boxing World magazine, Gary Gordon wrote: "Fighting a tactical battle, in which contrasting styles made for an excellent matching, Potsane used his height and reach advantage to good effect as he ripped in straight lefts and rights to Siswana’s face."

Gordon went on to write: "It was difficult to understand how one judge arrived at a score of 117-114 for Siswana."

On 20 March 1994 he made a successful defence against the highly rated Nika Kumalo, winning on a tenth-round stoppage.

Kumalo was a top-class fighter having had two cracks at the WBO welterweight champion Manning Galloway. In the second fight against Galloway, Kumalo lost on a split decision and many believed he did enough to take the decision.However, Potsane did not hold on to the title for too long, and five months later he lost his championship to Luvuyo Kakaza and was also beaten in a return match for the title.

He lost three of his next three fights before winning his second South African title on 4 April 1999 at the Uncle Tom's Hall in Soweto, when he scored an eleventh-round technical knockout win over Mntwabantu Mbeki in a clash for the vacant South African junior middleweight title.

Unfortunately, he lost the title five months later when he was outpointed over 12 rounds by William Gare who would go on to a successful career and win the World Boxing Foundation super middleweight belt.

This was Potsane’s last fight as he finished with a record of 25-10-2; 11.

Not many people know that Potsane ran the Comrades Marathon in a time 6 hours and 35 minutes. He also finished the standard marathon in 2 hours and 26 minutes.