Willie Smith, South Africa’s bantamweight champion boxer is born

William “Willie” Alexander Smith was born in Johannesburg on 4 July 1904.[i] Smith’s boxing debut took place on 20 June 1925.[ii] Willie Smith was South Africa’s second Olympic champion when he won the bantamweight title at the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris.[iii] Smith turned professional boxer shortly after his Olympic win and continued boxing up until 1936.[iv] He also beat Teddy “The Pride of Poplar” Bradlock[v] to claim the British bantamweight title, a title widely regarded as the world championship title in the boxing world in those years.[vi] Despite the limited recognition Willie received as a world champion, in South Africa Willie Smith is often regarded as the country’s first world boxing champion and also one of South Africa’s best referees in the country’s boxing history.[vii] On 20 December 1955, Smith passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 51.[viii] End Notes [i] Willie Smith, http://boxrec.com/boxer/41779 ↵ [ii] Willie Smith, http://boxrec.com/boxer/41779 ↵ [iii] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 190. ↵ [iv] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 190. ↵ [v] R. Jackson. 2016. Vic was a real champion, http://www.supersport.com/boxing/features/news/160114/Vic_was_a_real_champion ↵ [vi] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 190. ↵ [vii] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 190. ↵ [viii] Willie Smith, http://boxrec.com/boxer/41779 ↵