Baby Jake’s civility, not small stature made him beloved by all

Jacob “Baby Jake” Matlala’s politeness endeared him to the hearts of South Africans, contrary to the general belief that his height at of 1,47m, which made him the shortest world boxing champion in history, made him popular, says veteran boxing administrator Dr Peter Ngatane.

The little big man won four world titles in a long and thorny yet fruitful career that spanned 22 years.

On this day, Matlala, from Meadowlands in Soweto, won the World Boxing Union (WBU) junior flyweight title.

The former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior flyweight and flyweight holder pummelled Tod Makelina into submission in four rounds in Brakpan in 2001.

The ultimate honour was the arrival of Nelson Mandela and ace American actor Will Smith at ringside midway through that boxing match, which was Matlala’s farewell fight.

He was so overwhelmed that he presented his WBU junior flyweight belt to Mandela. They were so close to each other in that they died two days apart. Mandela died on December 5 2013 and Matlala succumbed to pneumonia on December 7 2013.

Ngatane, who trained with Matlala’s father at the Dube Boys Gym, said: “Matlala’s demeanor – how he interacted with people – made him the beloved person. He was never proud or pompous, an attitude that is a turn off to many people.

“Jake would not walk past you without greeting – just like Mandela who would be involved in an argument with his bodyguards because he would never walk past a human being without greeting or shaking hands. That made the two big men the most beloved human beings here.”

Ngatane said Matlala made full use of his height. “He made it his advantage,” said the representative of the World Boxing Council (WBC).

“He was a disciplined sports person who took his craft very seriously. With or without a fight Jake still trained hard and he built his stamina by running marathons. He was so fit that he threw punches relentlessly.”

After a series of setbacks that included four defeats against Vuyani “Wonderboy” Nene, Matlala failed to win the International Boxing Federation flyweight belt when he was stopped in the 10th round by Dave McCauley in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1991.

He trudged on to finally win the WBO flyweight belt after defeating Pat Clinton in Scotland in 1993. But Matlala’s greatest win was in 1997 when he stopped Michael Carbajal – one of the greatest flyweights of all time – in the ninth round for the lesser recognised IBA junior flyweight belt in Las Vegas in July.