RIP Vic Toweel
Posted: 03 Sep 2008, 15:57
Sorry that this comes a bit late (Toweel died on August 15), but I didn't see any notices or any threads about him on this site, and I felt he was more than worthy of one.
Toweel "shook up the world" in the early '50s when he unseated the great, long reigning bantamweight champion Manny Ortiz. At the time, Toweel only had a mere 13 pro fights (by contrast, Ortiz had more than a hundred), which made this result basically a lighter weight equivalent of Ali-Spinks.
However, those who followed Toweel's rise to the top say they knew he was a young phenom. After an impressive amateur career, he won the South African bantamweight title in his 3rd fight, the SA featherweight title in his 9th fight, and the British Commonwealth bantam title in his 11th fight. He was still undefeated going into his fight with Ortiz, and this triumph made him one of the first South African fighters to win a world title.
Toweel is also noteworthy for his title defense against Danny O'Sullivan, in which he floored O'Sullivan somewhere between 14 and 20 times before stopping him in 11 rounds. This fight earned the record for most knockdowns scored in a title fight, surpassing the previous record held by Dempsey-Firpo.
Toweel successfully defended his title three times in all, before he himself was the victim of a huge upset when unheralded Australian Jimmy Carruthers went down to South Africa and annhilated Toweel in just one round. Carruthers only had 14 fights and the time and was not supposed to be in Toweel's class. In a rematch, Toweel performed better, but Carruthers eventually broke him down and stopped him in ten rounds. After that, Toweel let his weight balloon, and he retired only a few more fights (and one more loss) later. His final record was 28-3-1 (14 KOs).
Toweel's brothers also worked closely in the sport of boxing in various capacities. Brother Willie was also a boxer and later challenged for the bantamweight title himself, being held to a draw by Robert Cohen, and later going all the way up to welterweight and fighting the great Emile Griffith in Madison Square Garden.
Vic was living in Australia at the time of his death.
RIP Vic.
Toweel "shook up the world" in the early '50s when he unseated the great, long reigning bantamweight champion Manny Ortiz. At the time, Toweel only had a mere 13 pro fights (by contrast, Ortiz had more than a hundred), which made this result basically a lighter weight equivalent of Ali-Spinks.
However, those who followed Toweel's rise to the top say they knew he was a young phenom. After an impressive amateur career, he won the South African bantamweight title in his 3rd fight, the SA featherweight title in his 9th fight, and the British Commonwealth bantam title in his 11th fight. He was still undefeated going into his fight with Ortiz, and this triumph made him one of the first South African fighters to win a world title.
Toweel is also noteworthy for his title defense against Danny O'Sullivan, in which he floored O'Sullivan somewhere between 14 and 20 times before stopping him in 11 rounds. This fight earned the record for most knockdowns scored in a title fight, surpassing the previous record held by Dempsey-Firpo.
Toweel successfully defended his title three times in all, before he himself was the victim of a huge upset when unheralded Australian Jimmy Carruthers went down to South Africa and annhilated Toweel in just one round. Carruthers only had 14 fights and the time and was not supposed to be in Toweel's class. In a rematch, Toweel performed better, but Carruthers eventually broke him down and stopped him in ten rounds. After that, Toweel let his weight balloon, and he retired only a few more fights (and one more loss) later. His final record was 28-3-1 (14 KOs).
Toweel's brothers also worked closely in the sport of boxing in various capacities. Brother Willie was also a boxer and later challenged for the bantamweight title himself, being held to a draw by Robert Cohen, and later going all the way up to welterweight and fighting the great Emile Griffith in Madison Square Garden.
Vic was living in Australia at the time of his death.
RIP Vic.