Everything but dedication

One of the most outstanding boxers South Africa ever produced never came close to winning a world title. But he could have, if only he had a little dedication.

Bennie Nieuwenhuizen was possibly the most talented SA fighter of his era. He had all the attributes to become a world champion.

He was a brilliant all-round boxer who used his left to bamboozle his opponents before landing with his right hand. He also had an instinctive mastery of every facet of boxing.

Bobby Diamond once said, “If this guy can be disciplined for six months he will be a world champion.”

Diamond knew a thing or two about boxing. He spent a lifetime in boxing and was in Johannesburg with world bantamweight champion Robert Cohen for the defence of his title against Willie Toweel in September 1955 when he saw Nieuwenhuizen in action.

Born Barend Johannes van Nieuwenhuizen on June 15, 1933, Bennie fought under the surname Nieuwenhuizen, dropping the “van”.

He won his first boxing trophy at the age of six. Five years later won his first Transvaal junior title. He put lead in his shorts to make the qualifying weight for the division because he was so small.

Boxing for the Malvern Amateur Club, Bennie won two more Transvaal junior titles and a SA championship.

After becoming an apprentice jockey, he continued boxing and won three out of five fights against Grant Webster. He also had the better of Johnny “Smiler” van Rensburg in two fights. Webster and Van Rensburg were two of the finest amateurs ever produced in South Africa.

Under the guidance of his uncle, Tony Lombard, a former fighter, Nieuwenhuizen made his professional debut in Salisbury, Rhodesia, on July 19, 1952 when he beat Gerry Olivier on points over four rounds.

He won his next three fights in style before losing on points to Smiler van Rensburg, who later won two SA and two British Empire titles.

BEATING MIKE HOLT TWICE

Nieuwenhuizen won his next twelve fights on the trot, including two against future SA middle and light-heavyweight champion Mike Holt. He also beat future SA lightweight champion Tony Habib twice.

On February 7, 1955 he outpointed the awkward Chris van Rooyen in Johannesburg to win the SA welterweight title. In a return non-title match he won on points over six rounds.

After this victory he campaigned in Britain. In his first fight, on April 29, 1955 in Manchester, he stopped Wally Thom, the British, Empire and European welterweight champion, in the fifth round.

Five weeks later he stopped the highly rated Peter King, from Manchester, in the eighth round.

After these victories no other British welterweights were willing to fight him and he was forced to return to South Africa.

Making the first defence of his national welterweight title against Gerald Dreyer in Durban, the broken-nosed, freckle-faced Nieuwenhuizen outclassed Dreyer, knocking him down ten times before the fight was stopped in the eighth round.

Dreyer had won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in London in 1948 and was a former SA lightweight and British Empire welterweight champion.

ONE OF THE BEST SEEN IN LONDON

Nieuwenhuizen then stopped Piet Pieterse in two rounds before returning to London. On December 6, at the Harringay Arena, he drew over ten rounds with the experienced Giancarlo Garbelli, whose record was 36-2-4 at the time. The fight was voted as one of he best seen in London during 1955.

Only ten days later, in Manchester, Nieuwenhuizen stopped the experienced German welterweight champion Werner Handtke in eight rounds.

On April 14, 1956 Nieuwenhuizen met Australian George Barnes at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg in a clash for the British Empire welterweight title; a highly regarded title at the time.

Barnes was ranked No 8 at welterweight in the world by The Ring magazine, the only supplier of official ratings at the time.

However, the importance of the chance to break into world rankings made no impression on Nieuwenhuizen. He did not train properly for the fight and continued drinking heavily.

With 17 summonses for various offences against him, he also lacked concentration. But despite his poor conditioning Nieuwenhuizen put up a brave performance before he was stopped the thirteenth round.

Nieuwenhuizen had a good trainer, Ted Russell, in his corner, but Russell had no control over the fighter outside the ring.

KEPT VISION PROBLEMS A SECRET

After the fight against Barnes, he began to have problems with his vision, but kept it a secret and continued fighting.

He beat Chris van Rooyen for the fourth time but he had been stripped of his SA welterweight title earlier in 1956 for his conduct outside the ring.

In his last fight, in 1956, he was stopped on cuts in the fourth round by Ewie Vorster, the SA welterweight champion. It was a non-title bout.

In 1957 he once again tried his luck overseas. He went to Australia with Mike Holt but lost on points in 12-round fights against Attuquaye Clottey of Ghana, Darby Brown and Italian Bruno Visintin, all good fighters.

Nieuwenhuizen continued to fight against lesser opponents in South Africa and never lost his class. He beat Gary Gordon and Buster Perry, twice, for the Natal welterweight title, before he was knocked out in the third round by Smiler van Rensburg.

After defeating Sampie Pretorius and Ron Hinson of England, he also beat Kenny Lawrence, Pat van Biljon, Karel Stols and Steve Swan before losing on points to Van Rensburg in a bout for the SA lightweight title.

The years of abusing his body began taking a toll but he beat Rocky Shane and drew with Julio Silva in Lourenco Marques before losing on a second-round disqualification against Mickey Pretorius, who had represented South Africa at the 1954 Empire Games in Canada.

BEATEN BY WILLIE TOWEEL

On August 27, 1960 he met Willie Toweel in clash for the vacant SA welterweight title at the Welkom Market Hall.

Niewenhuizen was convincingly beaten, but a local newspaper described the bout as one of the finest boxing exhibitions ever seen on the Goldfields.

It was a classic boxing science for the first ten rounds before Nieuwenhuizen went down just before the final bell in the twelfth round.

In October the same year, Nieuwenhuizen produced his last really good performance when he outpointed former SA “non-white” welterweight and the then middleweight champion Joe “Axe Killer” Ngidi on points over ten rounds in Maseru.

Despite an outstanding performance in losing to Charlie Els on points for the vacant SA lightweight title at the Drill Hall in Johannesburg the beginning of the end was visible.

Nieuwenhuizen lost to Henry “Young” Seabela and beat Ernest Musso in Salisbury before losing inside the distance in his next three fights against Mathias Ndewe, Annibel Angelo and Portugel Nunez.

He was inactive in 1965 but then drew with Manny Agrella over four rounds.

In his last fight, on December 10, 1966, he was stopped in the fourth round by Blackie Swart, finishing with a record of 36 wins, 16 losses and 3 draws, with 20 wins inside the distance.

BLAMED HIMSELF

The statistics do not tell the real story of a man who had everything, including uncanny skills and outstanding footwork. But he lacked one of the main ingredients of a successful fighter: dedication.

In 1977, in an interview with Gary Gordon of SA Boxing World ¬¬, who had been knocked out in the seventh round in March 1978 by Nieuwenhuizen, the battle-scarred 41-year-old father of nine children said he blamed himself for not making the most of his talents.

Nieuwenhuizen also revealed that when he was well past his prime he made many trips to Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) where he had numerous unrecorded fights against Chinese, Portuguese and black fighters in the local bullring. He claimed he had about 98 fights in his career. HIS LAST WIN – A RAFFLE

My lasting memory of Bennie will be the night Andre de Vries and I took him to a Northern Transvaal Veterans Boxing Association meeting at the Berea Park club in Pretoria.

As was the custom, the club held a raffle for various items and one of them was half a sheep. Somehow it was arranged that Bennie’s number came up.

The members really enjoyed Bennie’s company and the last time I saw Bennie was when he walked out, smiling, with the meat over his shoulder.

Three weeks later, on July 6, 1990, he died of a heart attack.