Blast from the past: Broken hands, cracked heads don’t stop SA boxers

Today in SA sports history: September 14

1955 — Jake Tuli, the former Empire flyweight champion, challenges Peter Keenan for the bantamweight version of the belt in Glasgow, but is stopped in the 14th round of a spectacular fight. Tuli won the early rounds, but the battered Keenan landed the knockout blow. Keenan had lost his bid for the world title held by SA’s Vic Toweel on points in 1952.

1991 — Dingaan Thobela defends his WBO lightweight title for the second time, outpointing Antonio Rivera of Puerto Rico at the Standard Bank Arena in Johannesburg. That was the first world title bout staged in SA in five years, the last occasion having been when Brian Mitchell won his world title in 1986. Thobela vacated that belt and went on to win two more world titles, but he never successfully defended a world title again...