Bongani Mwelase

Last updated

Bongani Mwelase
Personal information
Born (1982-08-23) 23 August 1982 (age 42)
Sport
Sport Boxing
Weight class Welterweight
Medal record
Men's boxing
Representing Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2006 Melbourne Welterweight

Bongani Mwelase (born 23 August 1982) is a South African former boxer who became the 2006 Commonwealth amateur champion at welterweight.

Contents

Amateur

The hard-punching southpaw failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Games by ending up in third place at the 2nd AIBA African 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Gaborone, Botswana. He won the Commonwealth boxing championships in Glasgow 2005 and the Commonwealth Games 2006. In the final 2006 he beat Vijender Singh who received a standing 8 count 33–26. He is South Africa's first black Commonwealth boxing champion. [1]

Pro

He won his first 14 bouts and scored 12 KOs, but he then dropped decisions to Lovemore N'dou and Chris van Heerden in back-to-back fights.

He retired from boxing in 2011, citing exploitation and racism by promotors who mistreated black boxers. [1] He finished his career with a record of 14–2.

Related Research Articles

Colin Raymond Jones is a Welsh former boxer, who became British, Commonwealth and European welterweight champion. Before turning professional, he represented Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Colin had a trainer by the name of Gareth Bevan, who was also helped out by his son John Bevan.

Joseph Lubega is an Ugandan professional boxer. As an amateur, he participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his country. There he was stopped in the first round of the middleweight division by Thailand's eventual bronze medal winner Prasathinphimai Suriya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akhil Kumar</span> Indian boxer

Akhil Kumar is an Indian boxer who has won several international and national boxing awards. He practices an "open guarded" boxing style. In 2005, the Indian government gave him the Arjuna Award for his achievements in international boxing. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, appointed Akhil Kumar along with Mary Kom as national observers for boxing.

Dingaan Bongani Thobela 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijender Singh</span> Indian boxer

Vijender Singh Beniwal is an Indian professional boxer and politician of Bharatiya Janata Party. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal. He also won bronze medals at the 2009 World Championships and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, as well as silver medals at the 2006 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, all in the middleweight division.

Lovemore Ray Nḓou is a South African-Australian solicitor and former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He held the IBF junior-welterweight title in 2007, and the IBO welterweight title from 2009 to 2010.

Bongani ("Wonderboy") Mahlangu is a South African professional boxer. As an amateur, he participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he was stopped in the first round of the lightweight division by Azerbaijan's Rovshan Huseynov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in South Africa</span> South African sport culture

Sport has a significant role in South African culture. The three most popular mainstream sports in the country — cricket, football and rugby — reflect the country's early British colonial influence. South Africa was absent from international sport for much of the apartheid era due to sanctions, but started competing globally after the end of apartheid. South Africa is among a very few countries which have participated in world cups of all three major sports — cricket, soccer, and rugby union. England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia are among other such nations. South Africa has hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and 2010 FIFA World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Namibia</span>

The principal sports in Namibia are football, rugby union, cricket, golf and fishing. Boxing and athletics are also popular. The home stadium for all national teams is Independence Stadium in Windhoek, while Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura is also occasionally used.

Gerard "Ged" Anthony O'Mahony is an Australian pro boxer best known for competing in the Olympics in 2004 and 2008 at Welterweight.

Herbert Nkabiti was a Botswana professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2017. As an amateur, he won the junior welterweight silver medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenya at the 2008 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Kenya competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. Kenya won a total of 14 medals, 6 of them gold, its best ever performance at the Olympics.

Don Broadhurst is a retired English professional boxer who competed in the Flyweight division. He hails from Birmingham and boxed for Frank Warren's Sports Network. He held the Commonwealth super flyweight champion from 31 October 2008 to 11 December 2009.

Tshifhiwa Munyai is a South African professional boxer who challenged for the WBA super-bantamweight title in 2014. He also held the Commonwealth bantamweight title from 2006 to 2007, and the IBO super-bantamweight title in 2011.

Jason Cook is a former professional boxer, who fought under the nickname "The Power". As an amateur, he won a silver medal for Wales at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. As a professional, he has fought as a lightweight, and has won both the European and IBO championships at the weight. He currently campaigns at Light-Welterweight, and fights out of Fight Academy Wales gym in Llanharan, South Wales under the guidance of professional coach Darren Wilson.

Charles Adamu is a Ghanaian professional boxer. As an amateur he represented Ghana in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, where he won a bronze medal, and in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, where he reached the second round. As a professional he is a two-time holder of the Commonwealth super middleweight title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariane Fortin</span> Canadian boxer (born 1984)

Ariane Fortin is a Canadian southpaw amateur boxer. She is a two-time World Boxing Champion. She also won a silver medal in the middleweight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.

Martin Mubiru is a boxer from Uganda, who won the bronze medal at 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Bodo Andreass is a German boxing coach who has coached German, Nigerian, South African and Australian national boxing teams.

Julius Luipa was a Zambian boxer who won two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and represented Zambia at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. One of Zambia's best amateur boxers, he was the country's Sportsman of the Year in 1970 and when he turned professional four years later, he defeated George Chisenga to become Zambian light heavyweight champion and held the title until he was dethroned by Lottie Mwale in 1977.

References

  1. 1 2 Magasela, Bongali. "Mwelase explains why he walked away from boxing". SowetanLIVE. Retrieved 5 September 2021.