Stoffel du Plessis (27 December 1932 – 8 March 2000) born Christoffel Petrus du Plessis, in the district of Lichtenburg, was a South African amateur and professional

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

boxer of the 1950s.

Early life

Du Plessis was born in the district of Lichtenburg,

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

, where his father, a

Boer Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

farmer originally from the

Wolmaransstad Wolmaransstad (Afrikaans for "Wolmarans City") is a maize-farming town situated on the N12 between Johannesburg and Kimberley in North West Province of South Africa. The town lies in an important alluvial diamond-mining area and it is the main t ...

district, earned a living as diamond digger at Elandsputte. After completing school, Du Plessis completed his apprenticeship in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

to become a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

. Stoffel had a younger brother, Botha du Plessis, a 1956 Olympic boxer.

Amateur career

Du Plessis' amateur record dates from 1948, when he fought for two years as a junior at weights ranging from 114 and 135 pounds. His career as senior lasted from 1950 to 1952, competing at 140 pounds, 147 pounds, 156 pounds and finally at 165 pounds. During this time, he represented

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

. On 17 April 1952, Du Plessis lost to Theuns van Schalkwyk on points during the final of the South African trials for the

1952 Olympic Games 1952 Olympics refers to both: *The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway *The 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were a ...

. Van Schalkwyk, who was the reigning Commonwealth champion, went on to win silver at the said Olympic Games. Du Plessis finished his amateur career on 27 September 1952, with a first-round knockout of A Nel in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

, amassing a record of 30-19-3 (16 KO). As an amateur he was crowned both

and

champion.

Professional career

The Transvaal Board of Control for Professional Boxing and Wrestling granted Du Plessis his professional boxing license on 6 February 1953. After his first four bouts, and victories over Corrie van Niekerk and Alex Weiss, Du Plessis was ranked as Class A by the magazine Boxing Round-Up. After fighting 13 more times during the next three years, Du Plessis earned a title shot against reigning South African

champion,

Mike Holt Mike Holt (15 September 1931 – 19 July 2008) born Antione Michael Holthausen in Pretoria was a South African professional middle/ light heavy/heavyweight boxer of the 1950s and '60s who won the South African middleweight title, and South A ...

Holt vs. Du Plessis

Du Plessis fought

for the South African

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

title in the

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

City Hall on 12 September 1956. On fight night, Du Plessis weighed 5½ pounds less than Holt. By the second round, “Holt’s nose was a dull red blob on his face, thanks to Du Plessis’s left jabs, which found a way through Holt’s wide open stance.” A cut appeared next to Holt's left eye in the fourth round, though Du Plessis was in a far worse state at this time, bleeding from the nose and having a cut eye himself. After a “gory fifth round”, Holt pressured Du Plessis through the next two rounds, dropping him in the sixth. By the seventh round Du Plessis's cut was so bad that he could not continue the bout. The pair were to fight again only 10 days later, on 22 September 1956 in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

. Holt dropped Du Plessis three times in the first round, winning by TKO in the second. Stoffel du Plessis retired from professional boxing after this fight.

Personal life

Du Plessis moved to

Klerksdorp Klerksdorp ( ) is located in the North West Province (South Africa), North West Province, South Africa. Klerksdorp is located southeast of Mahikeng, the provincial capital. Klerksdorp was also the first capital of the then Transvaal Republic and u ...

in the mid 1950s, an area from which the family hailed originally. He worked privately as a bricklayer, before becoming a mason at Hartbeestfontein gold mine to the east of the town. He worked there up to his retirement nearly thirty years later. For many years, Du Plessis was coach of the Klerksdorp amateur boxing club. Both his sons were to train there, earning

colours. His oldest son would become South African University Champion at

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

in 1979, representing the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

where he studied to become a

veterinary surgeon Veterinary surgery is surgery performed on non-human animals by veterinarians, whereby the procedures fall into three broad categories: orthopaedics (bones, joints, muscles), soft tissue surgery (skin, body cavities, cardiovascular system, GI/u ...

. Later South African

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

champion,

Kallie Knoetze Kallie Knoetze (born as Nikolaas Jacobus Knoetze on 24 April 1953) is a retired South African heavyweight boxer and actor. Boxing career As an amateur Knoetze fought future professional world champion and fellow South African Gerrie Coetzee s ...

, grew up in this gym as an amateur. Du Plessis was a staunch supporter of the

Herstigte Nasionale Party The Herstigte Nasionale Party () is a South African political party which was formed as a far-right splinter group of the now defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, evoking the Herenigde Nasionale Pa ...

, especially under the leadership of

Jaap Marais Jacob Albertus Marais (2 November 1922 – 8 August 2000) was an Afrikaner nationalist thinker, author, politician, Member of Parliament, and leader of the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP) from 1977 until his death in 2000. Early life and fami ...

. In later life, Du Plessis raced pigeons as a hobby. He died on 8 March 2000 at his home in Klerksdorp, after a short battle with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Plessis, Stoffel 1932 births 2000 deaths Alumni of Helpmekaar Kollege Middleweight boxers Afrikaner nationalists Sportspeople from Klerksdorp Transvaal people South African anti-communists South African male boxers South African Protestants Deaths from cancer in South Africa South African people of Dutch descent South African people of German descent South African white supremacists 20th-century South African sportsmen