JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African boxer Dingaan Thobela, a two-weight world champion known as “The Rose of Soweto,” has died, the ministry of sports said on Tuesday. He was 57.
Thobela won the WBO lightweight title in 1990 and the WBA lightweight title in 1993, when he beat American Tony Lopez in a rematch. He moved up to super-middleweight and beat Britain's Glenn Catley for the WBC belt with a 12th-round stoppage in 2000, his finest moment.
He finished with a professional record of 40 wins, 14 losses and two draws.
Thobela hailed from the famed Johannesburg township of Soweto and was widely popular in his home country as his rise coincided with South African boxing's heyday in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was one of several world-class Black fighters to emerge during the last years of apartheid, when boxing was one of the few South African sports to allow Black athletes to compete on the world stage and gain international recognition.
Thobela's death came days after South Africa marked the 30th anniversary of the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation, which was officially dismantled in 1994.
“As we celebrate 30 years of South African democracy, we mourn the loss of an athlete who did so much to elevate South African sport through his success in boxing," Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa said. "We also celebrate a champion boxer who inspired the nation, future boxers and champions from Soweto, Mdantsane, Thohoyandou and other parts of the country.”
No cause of death was announced. The Sowetan newspaper reported that Thobela was found dead in his apartment in Johannesburg on Monday evening.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE — South African boxer Dingaan Thobela at a weigh-in in Montreal, Canada, Nov. 29, 2001, before his super-middleweight fight against Eric Lucas. Thobela, a two-weight world champion known as "The Rose of Soweto," has died. He was 57. (AP Photo/Ryan Remiorz/File)
FILE — Defending champion Eric Lucas, right, serves an uppercut to South Africa's Dingaan Thobela, left, during the WBC super middleweight championship on Nov. 30, 2001 in Montreal, Canada. Thobela, a two-weight world champion known as "The Rose of Soweto," has died. He was 57. (AP Photo/Paul Chiasson, File)
STONECREST, Ga. (AP) — Hundreds of Air Force members in dress blues joined Roger Fortson's family, friends and others at a suburban Atlanta megachurch on Friday to pay their final respects to the Black senior airman, who was shot and killed in his Florida home earlier this month by a sheriff's deputy.
People lined up well before the start of the service at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest to file past the open coffin and say their goodbyes to Fortson, who was shot six times by a deputy responding to a May 3 call about a possible domestic violence situation at Fortson's apartment complex in the Florida Panhandle. He was 23.
Fortson’s face and upper body were visible in his Air Force uniform, with an American flag draped over the lower half of the coffin. After viewing the body, many mourners paused to hug one another.
“As you can see from the sea of Air Force blue in front of me, I am not alone in my admiration of Senior Airman Fortson,” Col. Patrick Dierig told mourners.
“We would like to take credit for making him great, but the truth is that he was great before he came to us,” said Dierig, who commands the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Air Force Base in Florida, where Fortson was stationed.
Fortson grew up in the Atlanta area before he joined the Air Force. He was a senior airman who served in overseas combat zones and was stationed at Hurlburt when the deputy killed him.
The Rev. Jamal Bryant began his eulogy with a story about how civil rights icon Medgar Evers joined the Army during World War II even though he and other Black American service members were fighting for freedoms abroad that they didn't enjoy at home.
The 1963 killing of Evers, a Mississippi NAACP leader who was gunned down by a white supremacist, “showed all of America that you can wear a uniform and the uniform won’t protect you, that regrettably sometimes the skin you wear is more of a magnet to opposition than the uniform that you bear," Bryant said. “Because in America, before people see you as a veteran, as an airman in the United States Air Force, they’ll see you as a Black man.”
Bryant also called for justice in Fortson's killing.
“We’ve got to call it what it is: It was murder,” Bryant said. “He died of stone cold murder. And somebody has got to be held accountable. Roger was better to America than America was to Roger.”
The Fortson family's lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, delivered a rousing address, telling the gathering: “We will remember him for the American patriot he was.”
“He was the best from East Atlanta. ... He was the best from the state of Georgia. He was the best from America. He was one of the best this world had to offer,” Crump said.
In a recorded video played at the service, the Rev. Al Sharpton also highlighted Fortson's military service and called for his death to not go unpunished.
“He as a young Black man stood up, signed up to fight for this country. The question now is will the country stand up and fight for him? ... That is the question and that is what we intend to get an answer to,” Sharpton said.
The funeral came a day after Fortson's mother vowed to get justice for her son. At a news conference held by the family and Crump, Meka Fortson spoke glowingly about how her son had always stayed on a positive path and had never been in trouble or shown signs of violence.
She also had a message for Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden: “You’re going to give me justice whether you want to, Sheriff Aden, or not,” she said.
On the day he was killed, Fortson opened the door while holding a handgun pointed toward the floor, according to the deputy's body camera footage. The deputy shouted, “Step back!” and then shot Fortson six times. Only afterward did he shout, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!” The deputy then called paramedics on his radio.
Fortson's family and Crump argue that the shooting was completely unjustified and that the deputy had gone to the wrong apartment while responding to a call about a possible domestic disturbance in progress at the apartment complex. Fortson was home alone and talking to his girlfriend on FaceTime when he grabbed his gun because he heard someone outside his unit, Crump has said.
The deputy, whose name has not been released, shot Fortson within moments of the airman responding to the deputy's knocking and opening his door. Sheriff’s officials say the deputy acted in self-defense.
Two weeks after the shooting, the sheriff has yet to release an incident report, any 911 records or the officer’s identity, despite requests for the information under Florida’s open records act.
The case is among many around the country in which Black people have been shot in their homes by law enforcement personnel.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating and the deputy has been placed on administrative leave.
Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.
Trial lawyer Benjamin Crump speaks during the funeral for slain airman Roger Fortson at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Chantemekki Fortson the mother of slain airman Roger Fortson, left, speaks with family members during the funeral for Fortson at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Stonecrest, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Chantemekki Fortson, left, the mother of slain airman Roger Fortson and Trial lawyer Benjamin Crump stand at his casket during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Chantemekki Fortson, left, the mother of slain airman Roger Fortson mourns at his casket during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Mourners move near the casket of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A mourner holds a funeral program near the casket of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT Slain airman Roger Fortson lies in his casket during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A person pulls a flag over the coffin before the funeral for slain airman Roger Fortson at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
FILE - This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, shows Senior Airman Roger Fortson in a Dec. 24, 2019, photo. A Florida deputy's fatal shooting of a U.S. service member has jarred the former top enlisted officer of the Air Force. In 2020, Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright warned that his greatest fear was waking up to news that police had killed a Black airman. (U.S. Air Force via AP, File)
Chantemekki Fortson, left, the mother of slain airman Roger Fortson stands at his casket during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
U.S. Air Force personnel stand near the coffin of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
U.S. Air Force personnel stand near the coffin of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
U.S. Air Force personnel stand near the coffin of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The funeral for slain airman Roger Fortson is held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
U.S. Air Force personel stand near the coffin of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Chantemekki Fortson, left, the mother of slain airman Roger Fortson stands at his casket with family during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A mourner stands at the casket of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
