By Mesuli Zifo
The Klitschko brothers maybe the face of heavyweight boxing but below them no one stands out as a possible heir-apparent likely to take over when the siblings were to quit the game.
In South African the situation is much worse with the heavyweight division in such an appalling state that even a former junior lightweight champion Dingaan Thobela is fancying his chances of ruling supreme in the division at age 44 years.
The SA heavyweight champion is Wiseman Dlomo (9-8-2, KO9) a perennial loser who has lost to any opponent with a half- decent chance of fighting.
Despite being away from the ring for five years when he put up a poor performance in quitting at the end of the ninth round against an equally listless Soon Botes in a light heavyweight clash, Thobela has been surprisingly issued with a license to make a comeback to the ring.
He will face Basil Rey in a heavyweight eight rounder at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, SA on August 29.
A former SA 130lb champion, Thobela captured the WBA lightweight crown from American Tony Lopez before losing it in his first defence to Russian Orzubek Nazarov when his weight problems started to surface.
After losing the Nazarov rematch, Thobela appeared to be involved in a new fight; a fierce battle with the scales more than he did with his opponents in the ring.
He rarely made the weight limit for any of his subsequent bouts and at times he was caught manipulating the scales into recording a false weight in an effort to fall within the limit.
However he stunned the world when he knocked out Glenn Catley in 12 rounds to win the WBC super middleweight title in September 2009.
He would, however lose the title three months later when he was outpointed by Dave Hilton and subsequently went down to Canadian Eric Lucas via an eighth round stoppage defeat when he attempted to regain the crown.
He then assumed the ignominious role of being a stepping stone for rising stars such as current IBF super middleweight champion Lucien Bute, future WBA champion Mikkel Kessler and other undefeated youngsters looking to make a name for themselves in the division.
It was obvious Thobela had long passed his fighting days and was merely looking to cash in on his name to eke out a living in the same manner Roy Jones Jnr seems to be doing these days.
After a five-year layoff Thobela has surprised all and sundry by announcing a comeback at age 44 years old and the local commission has inexplicably issued him a license as a boxer.
Besides his age and a history of battling with the scales, Thobela has not won a bout since his stunning victory over Catley more than 10 years ago and how the local commission could deem it fit to relicense him defeats the logic.
He lost all his seven subsequent bouts including the sad stoppage defeat by Botes, which then appeared to have finally drum it into his head that he has no business being in the ring as a fighter.
But after being inspired by Bernard Hopkins’ sensational defeat of Jean Pascal to become the oldest man in history to win a world championship, Thobela is delusionally seeing himself as capable of defying Father Time and turn back the clock in the same manner the Executioner has done.
“This is the year of the senior citizens and I will prove my detractors wrong just like Hopkins did,” he said.
Problem though is that Thobela has never been a gym freak like Hopkins who literally stays in shape even if he has no fight lined up.
At least he will no longer have another battle with the scales as heavyweight fighters are not required to fight under a certain weight limit but still Thobela has no body frame of a heavyweight and although he used to pack a mean punch it is doubtful if he will be able to carry enough power to earn the respect of the big men.
Even a journeyman like Rey (2-5, 2Kos) who is renowned for his crude boxing style characterized by wild swings can fancy his chances against this washed up version of Thobela and is actually a betting favorite, which underlines just how far down the once famous “Rose of Soweto” has gone.
