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Johannesburg: Former world boxing champion Dingaan Thobela was found dead in Johannesburg on Monday aged 57 after suffering ill health, a family member told AFP.
“When mobile phone calls to him went unanswered, we came to his flat, gained entry, and discovered he had died,” said a spokesperson, who requested anonymity.
Known as the ‘Rose of Soweto’, he boxed professionally for 16 years from 1990 and claimed three world titles in two weight divisions.
Thobela won the World Boxing Organisation lightweight title in 1990, the World Boxing Association lightweight crown three years later, and the World Boxing Council super-middleweight title in 2000.
Born in Chiawelo, he became a household name in the 1990s when he defeated Mexican Mauricio Aceves to win the WBO lightweight crown in Brownsville, Texas, in the US.
In 1993, he pummeled American Tony Lopez at Sun City, in the North West, to lift the WBA lightweight title.
In September 2000, Thobela won the super middleweight title of the World Boxing Council. He bowed out of professional boxing in 2006, having won 40 fights, lost 14, and had two draws.