The first black South African to win a world boxing title has died at the age of 67.Peter Mathebula made history in 1980 when he beat fellow flyweight Tae-Shik Kim of South Korea at the World Boxing Association title fight in Los Angeles.
His fearsome skill inside the ring earned him the nickname “Terror”.
Mathebula had been “in and out of hospital before deteriorating”, his sister Dianah Tlhale told SABC. He died at Leratong Hospital on Saturday night.
As a child growing in South Africa’s North West province, Mathebula initially wanted to become a professional footballer, but it is said that he began boxing at the age of nine instead, before having his first amateur fight aged 19.
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Once he turned professional his main rival was Joe Ngidi, The South African news site reports. Ngidi won the national flyweight title in 1975, which became Mathebula’s first major title when he triumphed over Ngidi the following year.
