Bruce McIntyre: One of SA’s most exciting middleweights

Bruce “Mac the Knife” McIntyre packed in a lot of excitement in a professional career of only four years and scored victories over several South African champions and some quality imported fighters.

One scribe wrote: “his tenacity and dogged determination stems from his Scottish father and Afrikaans mother”.

This tough resolute middleweight fighter brought back memories of the days of Mike Holt, who fought from 1953 to 1964 in a 77-fight career, when fans flocked into venues to watch his fights.

McIntyre was born on 26 April 1954 and grew up in the tough south of Johannesburg. He was a fitter and turner by trade.

Trained and managed by Willie Toweel, he started out as a light heavyweight after a short amateur career and made his professional debut on 29 May 1978 in Durban at the age of 24. He won on a first-round technical knockout over Eswan Simelane.

In his first year as a pro, he looked sensational in scoring victories over Victor Ntlok0 (tko 1), Smiley Giesing (ko 1), Albertus Opperman (pts 4) and Solomon Dladla (tko 3).

His fine form continued when he stopped former South African light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion James Mathatho in the seventh round to win the Transvaal light-heavyweight title.

However, in April 1979, he survived two knockdowns against the much-heavier Theunis Kok to suffer his first loss on points over six rounds.

Trainer Willie Toweel then realised that the excess weight Bruce was carrying slowed him down as he constantly weighed around 3kg above the middleweight limit of 72.58kg, so he decided to bring him down to the middleweight limit.

In his first fight in this division on 27 August 1979, he stopped Themba “Blue Star” Buthelezi in the first round. This was Buthelezi’s first loss as a professional.

After this victory came the match with vastly experienced South African middleweight champion Elijah “Tap Tap” Makhathini, a 55-fight veteran.

In a non-title fight, Makhathini was knocked down at the end of the first round and counted out by referee Peter lock in round two.

In his next fight, McIntyre stopped the rugged Joe Hali in the third round in Welkom, and then came the battle against the unbeaten Cameron “Kangaroo” Adams on a rainy night on 1 December 1979 at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg.

A slashing right hand dropped McIntyre for a count in the 58th second of the first round and split the bridge of his nose.

The gutsy Bruce fought back in the next four rounds, scoring with punches to the body before a left-right combination dropped Adams. He managed to beat the count, but referee Stanley Christodoulou stepped in to stop the slaughter.

This exciting match-up received the SA Boxing World/King Korn Fight of the Year award.

In 1980, McIntyre scored wins over Mel Dennis, Loyiso Mtya (a former SA junior middleweight champion) and Simmie Black (alias Freddie Johnson) before being well-beaten over 10 rounds by the world-ranked Ruben Pardo from Argentina at the Wembley Ice Rink in Johannesburg.

He came back with a first-round win over David Love in 76 seconds, but in his next fight on 15 September at the West Ridge Park Tennis Stadium in Durban, he was stopped in the ninth round by the talented American Ralph Moncrief.

Bruce had a good 1981 with wins over Loyiso Mtya (ko 1), Michael Motsoane (ko 9) for the vacant South African middleweight title, Coenie Bekker (one-time SA junior middleweight champion), Freddie Brown (tko 9), Sakkie Enslin to retain the SA middleweight title, a revenge victory over Ruben Pardo (ko 9), and retained the SA middleweight title with a fourth-round knockout win over Leo Simelane.

However, the year ended on a sour note when on 30 November at the Westridge Park Tennis Stadium in Durban, in a gruelling encounter with American Johnny Locicero, he was knocked out with a big right hand in the 10th round.

The spark was gone and in 1982 he had three fights. He retained the South African middleweight title with a first-round knockout win over Shadrack Sithole. He lost on points to Jacinto Fernandez, and in his last fight on 15 June at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, he was battered into a 10th-round retirement by Argentinian Roberto Ruiz. He finished with a record of 25-6; 22.

McIntyre retired after this fight and sadly died on 9 March 2006 at the age of 51.

The late boxing writer Terry Pettifer once wrote: “Bruce McIntyre swinging national middleweight champion in the early 1980s, remains one of the most courageous fighters that this country has ever known. Yet Bruce, who came from South Hills in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg, had a rather turbulent lifestyle that led to his ultimate downfall in the roped arena, which was hastened by “Mac The Knife’s” acknowledged love of alcohol”.