Amateur boxing began on the diamond fields in the 1880s when the founder of the De Beers diamond monopoly, Barney Barnato, established an amateur boxing club in 1878. The African mine workers were interested in these bare-knuckle fights on the mines. They watched the fights but did not take up the sport.
The coloured author Peter Abraham’s, in his autobiography “Tell Freedom”, mentions witnessing a bare-fist amateur fight taking place in 16th Street, Vrededorp in the 1920s.
In his book “My Baby and Me”, Benny Singh writes that non-European boxing in Durban began in 1903 with one Jimmy O’Brien being the first South African, non-European professional boxer. However, it is unclear when the first black boxing matches took place in South Africa.
Boxing was one of the main sports organised by the Bantu Men’s Sports Club (BMSC). Apart from the BMSC, American Board Missionaries also introduced boxing in the townships. Boys clubs were formed to encourage boys to keep ‘good company’ and ‘not run wild on the streets’. Gilbert “KKK” Moloi also ran a boxing club at a local YMCA.
One of the earliest clubs was the St Mary’s Boys Club in Orlando, Soweto. It was at this club that Jake Tuli, who earned two South African professional titles and the Empire flyweight title in 1952, learned to box.
In June 1951, it was reported in The African Drum that the Ferreiratown’s Frisco Kids Boxing Club was created by Phineaus K. Sebiloane, a successful local boxer from the 1920s.
During the 1940s and 1950s, boys club’s like Dougall Hall Boys Club in Marabastad, the New Mai Mai Boxing Club at the Bantu Men’s Sports Club, and the G-Man Boxing Club in Sophiatown were opened. There were also active amateur clubs like Denver Brown Bombers Boxing Club, Yanks Boxing Club, Orphiton Boxing Club, Bull and Bush Boxing Club, Allons Boxing Club and Pals Boys Club in Alexandra.
Other clubs that attracted attention were Goodwill B.C, Frisco Kids Boxing Club, Jabavu B.C., Phefeni B.C, Home D. Boxing Club, Blue Mountain Boxing Club, Jubilee Centre Boxing Club and Renegade Boxing Club. These clubs drew reasonable crowds but not to the extent of the BMSC.
It was reported that the first amateur tournament at the BMSC for “non-Europeans” took place in 1929 and on 17 March 1951, a tournament that featured 20 bouts and drew a crowd of 500 made up of both white and black men and women.
In 1931 the BMSC appointed a boxing trainer for the first time and during the Second World War, William “Baby Batter” Mbatha, who subsequently won the South African non-European lightweight and welterweight titles, became an instructor there.
With boxing attracting a lot of interest at the BMSC in the mid 1950s, tournaments were held on two Fridays every month.
The BMSC boxing club really took off with “Jolting Joe” Maseko as a paid boxing instructor.
In the 1950s, Maseko campaigned with success in the United Kingdom and also won the South African non-European middleweight and light heavyweight titles.
The first Bull and Bush Club in the Transvaal was started by William Dixon in a yard in Alexandra Street, between Main and Fox Streets, in the Malay Camp. Charlie Timm took over the club in 1939 and produced some outstanding young fighters.
The Allons Amateur Boxing Club originated in 1949 when Isaac Davis decided to start an amateur boxing club in his own backyard. From this humble beginning and with the help of men like Billy Le Roux and Claude Bindeman, the club produced fighters like Leslie Tangee and Richard Borias who became South African champions in the professional ring.
The influence of American boxing culture was very strong during the 1940s and 1950s. Local boxers had nicknames which were clearly American. For example there were boxers with names such as “KidDynamite” Lekwete, “Homicide Hank” Mohlo, Ace “Chocolate” Matloka and Rueben “Panama Flash” Zondi.
The first recognised non-white professional champion on record was Sonny Thomas who knocked out Battling Shabane in Cape Town on 2 October 1946 to win the vacant South African non-European lightweight title.
However, there was also a report in a Cape Town newspaper that on 23 September 1904, J. Morris fought Long Sarel for the coloured middleweight championship of South Africa, which possibly could lay claim to the first non-white SA championship fight.
Also on 3 January 1913, Mannie Hommel beat Walle Muller on points over 20 rounds in Port Elizabeth in a fight billed as the SA coloured heavyweight title and in 1922, Harry Appal knocked out Young Sadow in a bout billed as the SA non-white lightweight title.
Non-white professional boxing in the Transvaal got off to a slow start with only three tournaments in 1948 and one in 1949. In what was claimed to be the first non-European professional fight to be staged in the Transvaal, the Bantu Men’s Social Centre on 13 March 1948 hosted a match between flyweights Joel “Fly” Mohahleli from Evaton and “One Round” Hank.
Unfortunately, after being ahead on points, Mohlahleli collapsed in the fifth round. He was taken to hospital having sustained a subdural haematoma. His parents refused to allow the doctors to operate and he was treated according to local tribal customs at home. Unfortunately he never fully recovered and remained an invalid.
Some of the areas where black boxing thrived in the early years were Beatrice Street in Durban, Sharpeville, Sebokeng, Mdantsane, Mangaung, Motse-Thabong, Galeshewe and Gugulethu in Cape Town and Soweto near Johannesburg.
Amongst the most popular venues at the time were Soweto's Jabulani Amphitheatre, Moroka Jabavu Stadium, Mofolo Hall which was burnt down during the 1976 riots, Kagiso Hall in Krugersdorp, Ramosa Hall in Mohlakeng, Mdantsane's Sisa Dukashe Stadium and the Orient Theatre in East London.
Some of the promoters who operated at these venues were Obedia Khazamula, Richard Motsunyane, Ike Nkumane, Abe Mohamane, Jackson Morley, Gladstone Nhlapo, Hunter Motsumi, Marcus “Bob Arum” Nkosi, Phil Makhetha, John “Don King” Khambule, Sy Mbonani, Sy “Big Ben” Mashinini, Joe Gumede, Joe Padisho and many others.