Thulani Malinga

Thulani Malinga
Data
Birth Name	Thulani Malinga
Fight name	Sugarboy
Weight class	Super middleweight
nationality	south african
birthday	December 11, 1955
place of birth	Ladysmith
style	Left delivery
size	1.76 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	57
Victories	44
Knockout victories	19th
Defeats	13

Thulani Malinga (born December 11, 1955 in Ladysmith , Natal Province ) is a former South African professional boxer and two-time WBC super middleweight champion.

biography

Malinga grew up with ten siblings in the Ladysmith area and worked in the sugar cane plantations in the area, which later earned him the battle name Sugarboy . He had lost his parents to death as a child. Inspired by his cousin Maxwell Malinga, he started boxing and became a good amateur with 195 wins out of 205 fights (some sources also mention 185-10). He won the South African Championships in three weight classes.

In 1981 he decided to pursue a professional career and won his debut on August 8th through tKo in the first round. Until 1989 he boxed in South Africa, where he beat some national greats like Morris Mohloai, Michael Motsoane, Mwehu Beya, Gregory Clark and Harry Cowap. In January 1989 he boxed in Berlin against the unbeaten Graciano Rocchigiani for the IBF world championship in the super middleweight division, but lost to the German unanimously on points. After a number of other fights, he was able to fight again for the IBF World Cup in December 1990, but lost again on points in Italy against the American Lindell Holmes .

In the fight for the WBO World Championship in Birmingham in February 1992 , he lost just on points against Chris Eubank , and in May on points against Nigel Benn . After two victories structure he met on August 14, 1993 in St. Louis on Roy Jones , the best at that time Boxer defeated the world but by knockout. In the sixth round.

After five subsequent victories he was able to compete against Nigel Benn for the WBC World Championship in March 1996 and this time defeated his opponent on points. But already in July he lost the title by losing points to the Italian Vincenzo Nardiello . In December 1997 he won the title back against Robin Reid , but then lost it in March 1998 to Richie Woodhall .

After losing to Mads Larsen and Ole Klemetsen , he ended his boxing career in 2000. In the same year there was a fire in his house in Benoni , in which his six-year-old grandson was killed. In 2009, his son died of complications from a brain tumor at the age of 32. He gave boxing lessons at the Sugarboy Boxing Academy and some schools after his active career .

In 2007 he was inducted into the South African Sports Hall of Fame .

predecessor	Office	successor
Nigel Benn	World Super Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 2, 1996 - July 6, 1996	Vincenzo Nardiello

predecessor	Office	successor
Robin Reid	Super Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) December 19, 1997 - March 27, 1998	Richie Woodhall

Web links

• BoxRec profile
• WBF-Bio