SPORTS SHORTS 161: REMEMBERING MANNY PACQUIAO VS. LEHLO LEDWABA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 04 Jul 2021
According to Supersport, former world champion Lehlohonolo “Hands of Stone” Ledwaba of South Africa has passed away at the age of 49 years, from COVID-19 on his way to the hospital on Friday. He would have turned 50 years old on July 27.
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Lehlo Ledwaba was born at his grandparents’ home in Meadowlands, Soweto, South Africa. “I come from a very disadvantaged place,” Ledwaba told The Ring. “I was brought up by a single parent. Even though my father was around, he never got married to my mum. She didn’t earn that much a week – for me it wasn’t that easy.”
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Ledwaba’s uncle Simon was an amateur boxer who first introduced Lehlo to boxing when he was around eight years old. That developed his interest. “I worked hard to make sure I bettered my lifestyle. (I wanted to help) my brother, two sisters and my mother. To make sure I [could one day] buy my mum a house,” recalled Ledwaba.
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The South African had a successful amateur career. He had several amateur fights but were only recorded starting in 1987. He went on to establish an amazing 79-3 slate. He won a national junior championship and proceeded to the senior circuit winning another national title.
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Lehlo Ledwaba turned professional in 1990 and in May 29, 1999 won the vacant IBF super bantamweight world title by a twelve round unanimous decision win over John Michael Johnson in Carousel Casino, Hammanskraal, South Africa.
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Ledwaba was on a 23-fight winning streak since July 1993 and defended the title five times. Among his victim was Filipino Arnel Barotilo by unanimous decision in South Africa on August 22,1998. Then he was stopped in six rounds by a young and completely unknown challenger Manny Pacquiao on June 23, 2001.
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Pacquiao won his second world title in two weight divisions. The fight was in the undercard of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Javier Castillejo at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. De La Hoya defeated Castillejo to win the WBC super welterweight title and tied with Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns as a five-division world champion.
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“So sad to hear the passing of Lehlo Ledbawa! He was a true champion in and out of the ring and left behind an amazing legacy. RIP champ!” Pacquiao posted on his Twitter.
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Ledwaba was scheduled to face Mexican Enrique Sanchez, the former WBA super bantamweight champion, in an eight-round fight for the IBF belt. Two weeks before the fight, Sanchez had to withdraw due to an injury.
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The promoters desperately searched for a replacement and they found the skinny 22-year-old Filipino with blonde strips of hair who was training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, California as a walk-in aspirant.
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The South African was also ranked among the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, which made him a huge betting favorite. Pacquiao fought in the US for the very first time in his career, and went to Las Vegas only on two weeks’ notice.
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Pacquiao was the WBC flyweight and international super bantamweight titlist that time and had just started training with Roach before being called to substitute for the Ledwaba fight. Roach would later comment that after one round with the mitts, “this guy can fight.”
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The demure and humble Pacquiao surprised the boxing world when he dominated the highly respected and favored champion in six rounds of a scheduled 12 round championship.
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The Filipino first showed awkwardness in the first few minutes but suddenly discovered the right tempo when he hit the champion with hard shots that broke his nose towards the dying seconds of the first round.
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Pacquiao immediately went for the kill and put pressure early in the second round. He knocked Ledwaba down with a perfectly-timed left hand. The champion recovered and made his assault, but Pacquiao was simply unstoppable.
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Pacquiao floored Ledwaba with a booming left hand, but the champion was able to rise up and ready to fight again. Again, another left hand sent Ledwaba crashing to the canvas and referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight immediately.
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“We were training for Sanchez, who we did not regard as a threat,” says Ledwaba’s trainer Norman Hlabane. “We never knew much about Pacqiao and were not sufficiently prepared to face a man of his caliber.”
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The former street kid Pacquiao won $40,000 for his victory and later stated that he always remember his fight against Ledwaba because "that's the one that got me here to the U.S. and after that my career really started."
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Ledwaba would eventually retire from boxing after losing to Maxwell Awuku on November 24, 2006. He finished his career with a reputable record of 36 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw with 23 wins by knockout.
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Former two division champion Ricky Hatton, another former Pacquiao foe, would like to face his former promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, in an exhibition fight. De La Hoya will return to the ring in September in an exhibition fight with MMA legend Vitor Belfort.
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"I’ll have a move about with Oscar De La Hoya if the opportunity comes! Oscar was a hero to a lot of people in boxing so it would be interesting even if it is only an exhibition. To share the ring with him and find out first-hand how good he was and maybe still is," Hatton said.
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"It looks like he might be fighting former UFC fighter Vitor Belfort now but there is any number of boxers who would want it if Oscar keeps talking about it," added the British retired fighter.
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"Miguel Cotto would be a good one, Shane Mosley still looks after himself. The list goes on, me and Cotto, me and De La Hoya, De La Hoya vs Juan Manuel Marquez maybe! There are so many more. And I think I speak for all fight fans when I say we’d love to see a couple of these," concluded Hatton.
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For the first time since the time of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor, the Milwaukee Bucks have entered the NBA Finals. The Bucks defeated the Atlanta Hawks 118-107 to win the Eastern Conference finals in six games, despite the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had a knee injury, for the last two-and-a-half games.
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Milwaukee will now face the Phoenix Suns for their first NBA championship since 1971. Khris Middleton scored 31 points on 10-of-22 shooting (4-of-10 from three points), seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. Jrue Holiday contributed 27 points with nine rebounds, nine assists and four steals.
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Semifinals were played in the FIBA Olympic qualifying on Saturday, with 16 teams vying for the final four spots in the Tokyo Olympics. The qualifying tournaments are taking place in Belgrade, Serbia, Kaunas, Lithuania, Victoria, Canada and Split, Croatia. Finals in each of the four FIBA Qualifying will be held on July 4.
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The semifinals results:
Lithuania: Slovenia 98, Venezuela 70; Lithuania 88, Poland 69
Serbia: Italy 79, Dominican Republic 59; Serbia 102, Puerto Rico 84
Croatia: Brazil 102, Mexico 74; Germany 86, Croatia 76
Canada: Czech Republic 103, Canada 101; Greece 81, Turkey 63
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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