The celebration of September as Heritage Month creates a conducive environment for all people to embrace and celebrate what was inherited or passed on to all South Africans by their forebears.
The liberation heritage of SA is characterised by peoples’ identification with particular spaces and places shaped by historical events and collective memory.
One such memory was when black South Africans found their messiah on the sporting front and ultimately justified their existence in a country where black people suffered inhumane treatment under racial segregation.
That messiah was Welcome “The Hawk” Ncita. That tiny fighter from Mdantsane won the IBF belt – one of the four superpowers in boxing, the others being the WBA, WBC and WBO – after dethroning France-based Spaniard Fabrice Benichou as the world junior-featherweight champion.
The fight was arranged by respected promoter Rodney Berman. It took place at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 10 1990.
That victory made Ncita the first black local boxer to win an IBF belt. SA was just coming out of the sporting boycott. Ncita’s win came after a few locals, including Thulani Malinga and Simon Skosana, had failed in their attempts to win world titles. South African fighters had been seen as stepping stones.
But Ncita, the lighting-fast sweet science practitioner, upset the bookies. He had made an impression in SA in 1986 when he dethroned ring veteran Johannes “Baby Joe” Miya as the SA flyweight champion. Ncita was trained by Mzimasi Mnguni but the boxer went to the US where he joined the gym of Lou Duva where boxers like Evander Holyfield were trained by George Benton.
Ncita moved to the famous Kronk Gym in Detroit, Michigan, to join Emmanuel Steward who was assisted by Luther Burgess to train Ncita, who had fights in US, Italy and Panama and his victories made him a wanted fighter abroad.
There was an offer to challenge for the WBA junior-bantamweight belt that was held by Khaosai Galaxy and Orlando Canizales was willing to give Ncita a crack at his WBA bantamweight belt.
But Ncita moved up to the junior-featherweight class where Berman got him a crack at Benichou ... and the rest is history.
Ncita defended the title successfully six times before losing it to American Kennedy McKinney in 1992. Ncita lost a rematch to McKInney in 1994 in a fight where Ncita dropped McKinney in round five. He retired in 1998 with 40 wins, three losses and a draw.
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