| Dingaan Thobela | |
| Realname: | Dingaan Bongani Thobela |
| Nickname: | The Rose of Soweto |
| Weight: | |
| Height: | 5 ft 7+1/2 in |
| Reach: | 72 in |
| Birth Date: | 24 September 1966 |
| Birth Place: | Soweto, Transvaal, South Africa |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 56 |
| Wins: | 40 |
| Ko: | 26 |
| Losses: | 14 |
| Draws: | 2 |
Dingaan Bongani Thobela (24 September 1966 – 29 April 2024) was a South African professional boxer who competed between 1990 and 2006. He was a world champion in two weight classes, having held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) lightweight title from 1990 to 1992, the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight in 1993, and the World Boxing Council (WBC) super-middleweight title in 2000. Thobela died on 29 April 2024, at the age of 57.[1] [2]
After compiling an amateur record of 80–3, Thobela, known as "The Rose of Soweto", turned pro in 1986 and won the WBO lightweight title in 1990 after beating Mauricio Aceves. After defending the belt three times, he relinquished the title and then challenged WBA lightweight title holder Tony Lopez in 1993, but lost a hotly disputed decision. Later that year he rematched Lopez, and won a decision to win the title. Battling to make the weight, he lost the title in his first defense to Orzubek Nazarov, and lost a rematch to Nazarov in 1994. He stopped WBF junior welterweight champion Kenny Vice in a non-title fight shortly after that.[3]
Thobela later moved up significantly in weight class, and in the twilight of his career in 2000 took on WBC super middleweight title holder Glenn Catley, winning the belt via a 12th-round KO in only his second fight at the higher weight limit.[4] He again lost the title in his first defense to Dave Hilton Jr via controversial split decision.[5] The loss to Hilton was the beginning of the end for Thobela, who lost his next five fights, including a TKO loss to Eric Lucas for the WBC super middleweight title in 2001[6] as well as later champions Mikkel Kessler and Lucian Bute.
Thobela returned to the ring at the age of 40 and after an absence of nearly two years on 27 October 2006 when he challenged Soon Botes for the South African light heavyweight title at the Wembley Indoor Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa.[7] He had defeated Botes back in 2000 to win the South African Super middleweight title. Many were surprised that the bout was sanctioned as Thobela failed to make the weight and his inactivity and age. Although Thobela dropped Botes he was clearly not conditioned to fight and did not come out for the tenth round.[8]
On 29 April 2024, Thobela was found dead in his apartment in Johannesburg at the age of 57 after a period of illness.[9] [10] His death came days after South Africa celebrated the 30th anniversary of the end of the apartheid[11]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | Loss | 40–14–2 | Soon Botes | RTD | 10 (12), | 27 Oct 2006 | |||
| 55 | Loss | 40–13–2 | Lucian Bute | TKO | 4 (8), | 3 Dec 2004 | |||
| 54 | Loss | 40–12–2 | Martin Nielsen | UD | 6 | 13 Dec 2003 | |||
| 53 | Loss | 40–11–2 | Otis Grant | UD | 8 | 22 Nov 2003 | |||
| 52 | Loss | 40–10–2 | Mikkel Kessler | UD | 12 | 29 Nov 2002 | |||
| 51 | Loss | 40–9–2 | Éric Lucas | TKO | 8 (12), | 30 Nov 2001 | |||
| 50 | Loss | 40–8–2 | Dave Hilton Jr. | SD | 12 | 15 Dec 2000 | |||
| 49 | Win | 40–7–2 | Glenn Catley | KO | 12 (12), | 1 Sep 2000 | |||
| 48 | Win | 39–7–2 | Soon Botes | MD | 12 | 19 Feb 2000 | |||
| 47 | Loss | 38–7–2 | Cornelius Carr | MD | 12 | 31 Oct 1999 | |||
| 46 | Win | 38–6–2 | Adrian Walter Daneff | TKO | 7 (12) | 6 Mar 1999 | |||
| 45 | Draw | 37–6–2 | Carlos Baldomir | 12 | 28 Oct 1998 | ||||
| 44 | Win | 37–6–1 | Gary Murray | TKO | 4 (10) | 8 Oct 1997 | |||
| 43 | Loss | 36–6–1 | SD | 10 | 22 Mar 1997 | ||||
| 42 | Loss | 36–5–1 | Geoff McCreesh | KO | 2 (8), | 5 Nov 1996 | |||
| 41 | Win | 36–4–1 | Wayne Boudreaux | KO | 6 (10) | 25 Jun 1996 | |||
| 40 | Win | 35–4–1 | Booker Kidd | TKO | 3 (10) | 25 Jun 1996 | |||
| 39 | Win | 34–4–1 | Mark McCreath | TKO | 9 (10) | 25 Nov 1995 | |||
| 38 | Win | 33–4–1 | Jaime Balboa | KO | 8 (10) | 26 Sep 1995 | |||
| 37 | Win | 32–4–1 | Santiago Alfonso Ahumada | TKO | 2 (10), | 19 Aug 1995 | |||
| 36 | Win | 31–4–1 | Kenny Vice | TKO | 2 (10) | 6 May 1995 | |||
| 35 | Win | 30–4–1 | Andreas Panayi | TKO | 2 (10) | 11 Feb 1995 | |||
| 34 | Loss | 29–4–1 | Karl Taylor | PTS | 8 | 29 Nov 1994 | |||
| 33 | Loss | 29–3–1 | Orzubek Nazarov | UD | 12 | 19 Mar 1994 | |||
| 32 | Loss | 29–2–1 | Orzubek Nazarov | UD | 12 | 30 Oct 1993 | |||
| 31 | Win | 29–1–1 | Tony Lopez | UD | 12 | 26 Jun 1993 | |||
| 30 | Loss | 28–1–1 | Tony Lopez | UD | 12 | 12 Feb 1993 | |||
| 29 | Win | 28–0–1 | Tony Foster | PTS | 8 | 31 Oct 1992 | |||
| 28 | Win | 27–0–1 | Peter Till | TKO | 9 (10) | 15 Aug 1992 | |||
| 27 | Win | 26–0–1 | Antonio Rivera | UD | 12 | 14 Sep 1991 | |||
| 26 | Win | 25–0–1 | Amancio Castro | UD | 10 | 13 Jul 1991 | |||
| 25 | Win | 24–0–1 | Mario Martínez | UD | 12 | 2 Mar 1991 | |||
| 24 | Win | 23–0–1 | Mauricio Aceves | SD | 12 | 22 Sep 1990 | |||
| 23 | Win | 22–0–1 | Pascual Aranda | TKO | 4 (10) | 23 Jul 1990 | |||
| 22 | Win | 21–0–1 | Mauricio Aceves | RTD | 7 (10), | 27 Apr 1990 | |||
| 21 | Win | 20–0–1 | Felipe Orozco | TKO | 10 (10) | 22 Jan 1990 | |||
| 20 | Win | 19–0–1 | Francisco Ortiz | UD | 10 | 5 Dec 1989 | |||
| 19 | Win | 18–0–1 | Francisco Alvarez | TKO | 9 (10) | 21 Oct 1989 | |||
| 18 | Win | 17–0–1 | Danilo Cabrera | TKO | 3 (10) | 24 Jul 1989 | |||
| 17 | Win | 16–0–1 | Fred Adams | KO | 1 (10) | 15 May 1989 | |||
| 16 | Win | 15–0–1 | Mark Fernandez | TKO | 6 (10) | 11 Mar 1989 | |||
| 15 | Win | 14–0–1 | MD | 10 | 23 Jan 1989 | ||||
| 14 | Win | 13–0–1 | Brian Roche | KO | 8 (10) | 13 Dec 1988 | |||
| 13 | Win | 12–0–1 | Mpisekhaya Mbaduli | TKO | 8 (12) | 1 Oct 1988 | |||
| 12 | Win | 11–0–1 | Ditau Molefyane | UD | 10 | 10 Jul 1988 | |||
| 11 | Win | 10–0–1 | Andy DeAbreu | TKO | 5 (10) | 9 May 1988 | |||
| 10 | Win | 9–0–1 | Gerald Isaacs | TKO | 3 (10) | 7 Mar 1988 | |||
| 9 | Win | 8–0–1 | Samuel Boikanyo | TKO | 4 (8) | 1 Feb 1988 | |||
| 8 | Win | 7–0–1 | Elijah Cele | PTS | 6 | 15 Dec 1987 | |||
| 7 | Win | 6–0–1 | Shorne Moorcroft | TKO | 5 (6) | 21 Nov 1987 | |||
| 6 | Win | 5–0–1 | Walter Mpungose | TKO | 6 (6) | 11 Jul 1987 | |||
| 5 | Win | 4–0–1 | George Masango | PTS | 4 | 8 Mar 1987 | |||
| 4 | Draw | 3–0–1 | Peter Mpikashe | PTS | 4 | 15 Dec 1986 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | David Matekane | PTS | 6 | 2 Nov 1986 | |||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Christian Sithebe | TKO | 4 (6) | 27 Aug 1986 | |||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Quinton Ryan | PTS | 4 | 28 Jun 1986 |