Vic Toweel

Victor "Vic" Anthony Toweel (12 January 1928 – 15 August 2008) was a South African boxer and former undisputed World bantamweight champion. He was the first South African to hold a world title.

Victor Anthony Toweel was born on 12 January 1928 in Benoni, South Africa. He was the second eldest of five brothers and the son of Michael Joseph Toweel, who was of Lebanese descent.

Toweel's father, better known as Pappa Mike, taught his sons, Jimmy, Victor, Fraser, Willie and Allan the basic rudiments of boxing and forged a family legacy in a makeshift corrugated iron gymnasium in the backyard of his home in Benoni. All of the Toweel brothers achieved success in the boxing world: Willie won an Olympic bronze medal and fought for a world title, Allan was a top trainer, Maurice an outstanding matchmaker and Jimmy a South African champion.

Toweel was an instinctive boxer who, at his best, flaunted incredible stamina, perfect balance and a blazing work ethic. His greatest asset as a fighter was his ability to throw non-stop batteries of punches without tiring.

Toweel was a very successful amateur, winning Springbok colours, and compiling an unbelievable record of 188 wins with only two losses - 160 by knock out. He won East Rand, Transvaal and SA junior and senior titles from 1941 to 1948 and was No 1 choice for the 1948 Olympic team. He competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in the bantamweight competition, but was eliminated in the first round by Arnoldo Parés of Argentina in a controversial decision.^{[citation needed]}

Soon after returning from the Olympics, Toweel turned professional. He made his professional debut on 29 January 1949, stopping Johannes Landman in the second round, the same night his brother Jimmy won the national lightweight title. Two wins inside the distance over Herby Andre and Kalla Persson followed.

In his fourth professional fight Toweel won the SA bantamweight title when veteran Jimmy Webster was disqualified in the third round for holding.

In his ninth fight, he became the SA featherweight champion. He captured the British Empire Bantamweight Title, in his 11th fight.

On 31 May 1950, in his 14th fight, at the age of 21, he won the world bantamweight championship.

Fighting using nicknames including "Dynamite," "Benoni's Mighty Mouse," the "Benoni Buzzaw," and the "white Henry Armstrong" for his constant attack fighting style, Toweel beat Word bantamweight champion Manuel Ortiz, who was recognised as one of the greatest bantamweight champions of all time.^[1] At that stage, Manuel Ortiz was a veteran of 110 fights whereas Vic had had only fought 13 contests as a professional.

During his reign as a world champion, Toweel had 13 bouts consisting of three successful title defences and 10 successful non-title fights against world rated contenders.

He successfully defended his world title against Danny O'Sullivan (KO 10 round) whom he dropped 14 times, winning him a place in the Guinness Book of Records, for the most knock downs in a world title fight. His second and third title defences were against Luis Romero (won in 15 rounds) and Peter Keenan (won in 15 rounds). A drastically weight-weakened Vic was dethroned by Australian Jimmy Carruthers in his fourth title defence, Toweel losing by a first round knockout.

Carruthers gave Toweel a return match on 21 March 1953 and a crowd of 35,000 saw him holding his own until the sixth round, when he began to fade. He was counted out in the tenth.

Toweel's eyes were giving him trouble and he went to London where a successful operation was performed.

On his return he announced that he would continue fighting as a featherweight. On 11 December 1953 he outpointed British featherweight champion Ronnie Clayton before losing on points to highly regarded Carmelo Costa in New York.

On 6 November 1953 Vic had his last fight, in the welterweight division, when he stopped Harry Walker in the eighth.

After years of battling with his weight and only two months short of his 27th birthday, he decided to hang up his gloves with a professional record was 28-3-1 (14).

Toweel was SA's first and so-far only undisputed world boxing champion.

Toweel retired to Australia in the 1980s and died aged 79 in Sydney, Australia, on Friday morning 15 August 2008.

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
32	Win	28–3–1	Harry Walker	RTD	6 (10)	Nov 6, 1954	Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
31	Loss	27–3–1	Carmelo Costa	UD	10	Jul 26, 1954	Eastern Parkway Arena, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
30	Win	27–2–1	Ronnie Clayton	PTS	10	Dec 12, 1953	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
29	Loss	26–2–1	Jimmy Carruthers	KO	10 (15)	Mar 21, 1953	Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	For NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire, and The Ring bantamweight titles
28	Loss	26–1–1	Jimmy Carruthers	KO	1 (15)	Nov 15, 1952	Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Lost NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire, and The Ring bantamweight titles
27	Win	26–0–1	Georges Mousse	PTS	10	Aug 16, 1952	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
26	Draw	25–0–1	Georges Mousse	PTS	10	Jul 19, 1952	Raylton Sports Ground, Harare (Salisbury), Zimbabwe
25	Win	25–0	Theo Medina	TKO	7 (10)	May 31, 1952	Olympia Ice Rink, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
24	Win	24–0	Tony Lombard	RTD	8 (12)	Mar 24, 1952	Van Riebeeck Stadium, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa	Retained South African featherweight title
23	Win	23–0	Peter Keenan	PTS	15	Jan 26, 1952	Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Retained NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire, and The Ring bantamweight titles
22	Win	22–0	Luis Romero	PTS	15	Nov 17, 1951	Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Retained NBA, NYSAC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
21	Win	21–0	Georges Mousse	PTS	10	Nov 2, 1951	Davies Stadium, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
20	Win	20–0	Bobby Boland	KO	1 (10)	Sep 1, 1951	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
19	Win	19–0	Jim Kenny	RTD	7 (10)	Jun 30, 1951	Olympia Ice Rink, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
18	Win	18–0	Fanie van Graan	KO	2 (12)	Jun 16, 1951	Olympia Ice Rink, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Retained South African featherweight title
17	Win	17–0	Danny O'Sullivan	TKO	10 (15)	Dec 2, 1950	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Retained NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire, and The Ring bantamweight titles
16	Win	16–0	Bunty Doran	TKO	9 (10)	Nov 3, 1950	Beach Tennis Courts, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
15	Win	15–0	Alvaro Nuvoloni	PTS	10	Oct 21, 1950	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
14	Win	14–0	Manuel Ortiz	PTS	15	May 31, 1950	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Won NBA, NYSAC, and The Ring bantamweight title
13	Win	13–0	Fernando Gagnon	PTS	15	Apr 8, 1950	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Retained Commonwealth British Empire bantamweight title
12	Win	12–0	Jackie Paterson	PTS	10	Dec 17, 1949	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
11	Win	11–0	Stan Rowan	PTS	15	Nov 12, 1949	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Won Commonwealth British Empire bantamweight title
10	Win	10–0	Tony Lombard	PTS	12	Sep 30, 1949	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Retained South African featherweight title
9	Win	9–0	Tony Lombard	PTS	12	Aug 6, 1949	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Won vacant South African featherweight title
8	Win	8–0	Plasie Fourie	KO	1 (6)	Jun 30, 1949	Town Hall, Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa
7	Win	7–0	Jackie Johnson	TKO	4 (10)	Jun 27, 1949	Palladium Theatre, Springs, Gauteng, South Africa
6	Win	6–0	Johnny Holt	PTS	6	Jun 8, 1949	Beach Tennis Courts, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
5	Win	5–0	Jackie Johnson	TKO	1 (6)	May 12, 1949	Plaza Theatre, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
4	Win	4–0	Jimmy Webster	DQ	3 (12)	Mar 26, 1949	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa	Won South African bantamweight title
3	Win	3–0	Kalla Persson	KO	1 (6)	Mar 10, 1949	Town Hall, Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa
2	Win	2–0	Herbie Andre	TKO	2 (6)	Feb 26, 1949	City Hall, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
1	Win	1–0	Johannes Landman	KO	2 (4)	Jan 29, 1949	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

• List of bantamweight boxing champions

• Boxing record for Vic Toweel from BoxRec (registration required)
• sports-reference.com
• Vic Toweel - CBZ Profile