The first black South African to win a world boxing title has died at the age of 67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter Mathebula made history in 1980 when he beat fellow flyweight Tae-Shik Kim of South Korea at the World Boxing Association title fight in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His fearsome skill inside the ring earned him the nickname “Terror”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mathebula had been “in and out of hospital before deteriorating”, his sister Dianah Tlhale told SABC<\/a>. He died at Leratong Hospital on Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a child growing in South Africa’s North West province, Mathebula initially wanted to become a professional footballer, but it is said that he began boxing at the age of nine instead, before having his first amateur fight aged 19<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once he turned professional his main rival was Joe Ngidi,\u00a0The South African news site reports<\/a>. Ngidi won the national flyweight title in 1975, which became Mathebula’s first major title when he triumphed over Ngidi the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His world title victory in 1980 was undoubtedly the proudest moment of his career, earning him fans across South Africa at the height of apartheid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It had only been three years since segregation rules banning white and black boxers from competing against one another were lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n