Memories of boxing in the 1950s
When I was a youngster, growing up during the early 1950s, it appeared to me that the radio ruled over everything and everybody.
Springbok Radio had just started and with it came a plethera of serials. In those days the husband of the family went to work each day while the wife stayed home to look after the home and children. So my mother would walk around the house, with a radio attached to her ear, while listening to the latest happenings of Dr Paul and Crystal, among many others.
I have a vague recollection as a four-year-old of the night, in 1950, when Vic Toweel annexed the bantamweight championship of the world from Manual Ortiz, winning a tough battle on points. I remember the neighbours, and my father, celebrating the win SA’s first world champion. Cars drove up and down our street, blaring their hooters and adding to the mayhem.
And so my brother Michael he is 15 months older and I discovered a liking for the ancient sport of boxing. Unfortunately, two visits from Australia by Jimmy Carruthers quickly moved Toweel out of the limelight, but a couple of years later, his younger brother Willy was making a name for himself as a featherweight and later a bantamweight, and he became a firm favourite.
But how were we to listen to boxing matches? The radio was in my parents’ bedroom and most fights were broadcast from about 9.30 or 10pm, when we were supposed to be fast asleep. But a “boer” can always make a plan!
Somehow, by following instructions in a science book, Michael and I built a little crystal radio receiver known as a “Cat’s Whisker,” and this little contraption was hidden safely away from my parents and used whenever there was a big fight broadcast on the radio.
We listened to the world bantamweight title fight between Toweel and the champion Robert Cohen of
France in 1955, which ended in a draw despite Toweel being badly hurt. But then in 1956 Toweel lost a lot of favour when he knocked out a 21-year-old South African boxer named Hubert Essakow who was rushed to hospital and died two days later from brain damage.
The death of his opponent, Toweel later admitted, affected him badly.
However, Toweel’s bouts with Johnny “Happy” van Rensburg will long be remembered by those who heard the broadcasts.
We also listened to the fatal bout between Pat McAteer of Great Britain and SA’s Jimmy Elliott in May 1957 which ended in another death when Elliott died a day after the fight.
We then followed the career of Mike Holt, one of SA’s most popular boxers. He was prominent until the early 1960s by which time my brother and I were involved with school rugby and cricket matches.
Looking back, I can say that the memories of those bouts of almost 60 years ago, will remain with me forever.
However, these days, I can barely raise any interest in boxing. The different rankings and numerous boxing associations confuse me.
I preferred it when there was only one world champion per division at any one time.