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.
Personal 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 trainer, Maurice a matchmaker and Jimmy a South African champion.
Amateur career
Toweel was a successful amateur, winning Springbok colours, and compiling a 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.
Pro career
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. 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.
On his return following eye surgery, 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.
Life after boxing Toweel retired to Australia in the 1980s and died aged 80 in Sydney, Australia, on August 15, 2008.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRoundDateLocationNotes32Win Harry WalkerRTD6 (10)Nov 6, 1954 31Loss27–3–1 Carmelo CostaUD10Jul 26, 1954 30Win27–2–1 Ronnie ClaytonPTS10Dec 12, 1953 29Loss26–2–1 Jimmy CarruthersKO10 (15)Mar 21, 1953 28Loss26–1–1 Jimmy CarruthersKO1 (15)Nov 15, 1952 27Win26–0–1 Georges MoussePTS10Aug 16, 1952 26Draw25–0–1 Georges MoussePTS10Jul 19, 1952 25Win25–0 Theo MedinaTKO7 (10)May 31, 1952 24Win24–0 Tony LombardRTD8 (12)Mar 24, 1952 23Win23–0 Peter KeenanPTS15Jan 26, 1952 22Win22–0 Luis RomeroPTS15Nov 17, 1951 21Win21–0 Georges MoussePTS10Nov 2, 1951 20Win20–0 Bobby BolandKO1 (10)Sep 1, 1951 19Win19–0 Jim KennyRTD7 (10)Jun 30, 1951 18Win18–0 Fanie van GraanKO2 (12)Jun 16, 1951 17Win17–0 Danny O'SullivanTKO10 (15)Dec 2, 1950 16Win16–0 Bunty DoranTKO9 (10)Nov 3, 1950 15Win15–0 Alvaro NuvoloniPTS10Oct 21, 1950 14Win14–0 Manuel OrtizPTS15May 31, 1950 13Win13–0 Fernando GagnonPTS15Apr 8, 1950 12Win12–0 Jackie PatersonPTS10Dec 17, 1949 11Win11–0 Stan RowanPTS15Nov 12, 1949 10Win10–0 Tony LombardPTS12Sep 30, 1949 9Win9–0 Tony LombardPTS12Aug 6, 1949 8Win8–0 Plasie FourieKO1 (6)Jun 30, 1949 7Win7–0 Jackie JohnsonTKO4 (10)Jun 27, 1949 6Win6–0 Johnny HoltPTS6Jun 8, 1949 5Win5–0 Jackie JohnsonTKO1 (6)May 12, 1949 4Win4–0 Jimmy WebsterDQ3 (12)Mar 26, 1949 3Win3–0 Kalla PerssonKO1 (6)Mar 10, 1949 2Win2–0 Herbie AndreTKO2 (6)Feb 26, 1949 1Win1–0 Johannes LandmanKO2 (4)Jan 29, 1949
Titles in boxing Major world titles NYSAC bantamweight champion (118 lbs) NBA (WBA) bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
The Ring magazine titles The Ring bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
Regional/International titles Commonwealth bantamweight champion (118 lbs) South African bantamweight champion (118 lbs) South African featherweight champion (126 lbs)
Undisputed titles Undisputed bantamweight champion
See also List of bantamweight boxing champions
References
External links
sports-reference.com Vic Toweel - CBZ Profile