Up to 1973 interracial fights within South Africa were non-existent. However, Pierre Fourie’s steady climb to the top in the light heavyweight division inspired thoughts of a world title fight between him and Bob Foster, the world champion and an American black, in Johannesburg.
At the time it was not uncommon for white South Africans to box blacks outside the country.
Many fights took place in Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) with South African white middleweight champion George Angelo going in against black middleweight champion Jolting Joe Maseko and future WBA bantamweight champion Arnold Taylor outpointing Anthony Morodi one of the legends of the South African ring over six rounds.
One time South African middleweight and light heavyweight champion Gert “Hottie” van Heerden also fought there in 1963 when he stopped Flash Mofokeng in the second round.
In August 1973 Fourie lost to Foster in Albuquerque in a challenge for the WBA and WBC light heavyweight titles.
Fourie’s manager Maurice Toweel contacted Foster a few weeks after the fight and asked Foster if he would agree to a rematch in South Africa.
Foster was sceptical because black people don’t fight white people in South Africa, even after he was offered and amount of $150 000 which was extremely big money at the time.
He then came back to Maurice and said “Give me $200 000 and I’ll come over there. This was a record purse for the light heavyweight division at the time.
Lou Viscusi, Foster’s manager was wary about taking on the fight but the huge amount offered changed his mind.
However, setting the match up was not all that easy because of the country’s apartheid law’s.
Toweel then approached Dr.Piet Koornhof who was appointed as Minister of Sport in 1972. He was both sympathetic and enthusiastic that the fight should take place in South Africa.
At the time the ruling National Party had laws that segregated races and classified South Africans as four races: whites, Indians, coloured or black.
Under apartheid, people of different races were barred from marrying and living together and there were separate public amenities. And all non-whites had to carry a “pass”, an identification book stating the person’s race.
In view of the aforementioned it was a major decision by Koornhof to allow the fight to take place.
The fight took place in Johannesburg on December 1, 1973. The implication of this fight was that a breakthrough had been made to remove all racial discrimination in professional boxing in South Africa. Just like President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal Republic had altered the law, although only temporarily, to ensure that the Bendoff-Couper fight in 1889 would take place, Premier John Vorster amended the Boxing and Wrestling Control Act of 1954 in November 1973.
Although interracial boxing was still prohibited in South Africa, Proclamation R2173 was significant because it allowed the Minister to approve any departure from some or all of the provisions of this regulation in the case of a world title bout, or an internationally recognised final eliminating contest for a world title, or a tournament which complied with the requirements of a South African multi-national tournament and in which South African boxers participated who were registered with the recognised National Boxing Control Board.
This allowed the Minister of Sport and Recreation to introduce black and white contact to professional boxing, albeit at a restricted level.
The return fight with Bob Foster will always remain a landmark in South African sports history. For the first time since professional boxing was placed under legal control in 1923, a white and black man met in the ring in front of a racially mixed audience of 37474 people.
On his arrival in South Africa there were hundreds of blacks to welcome Foster at the airport and during his stay at the Landrost hotel in Johannesburg, no matter what time of the day there would always be crowds outside trying to get a glimpse of him.
Publicity was at fever pitch with papers running special inserts and additions dedicated to the fight.
Foster even signed deals to model clothing, and make endorsements for beer, cigarettes and household products mostly aimed at the black market.
A crowd estimated at 43000 packed into the Rand Stadium in the white suburb of Rosettenville. A heavy downpour over the open-air stadium on the afternoon of the fight threatened to cancel the fight.
However, by 6pm the rain stopped and the fans had to walk through pools of water to take their damp seats.
It was reported that the fans paid approximately $500 000 a record for the light heavyweight division, with the previous best being a gross of $461 789 on July 16 1926 in Ebbets Field, Brooklyn for the Jack Delaney-Paul Berlenbach contest.
Foster who weighed 79.14kg against the 75.74kg of Fourie made a slow start with Fourie coming forward aggressively through the first six rounds, scoring with left hooks.
Foster who battled to get his jab working in the early rounds began to take control and by the ninth was landing solid blows with his left hand.
There were no knockdowns but Fourie made two trips to the canvas, slips in the 13th and 15th round and Foster suffered a slight nick on his left eyelid.
The bout was much closer that their first fight in Albuquerque but at the end of 15 interesting rounds the decision was not in doubt.
Sydney Beck from Cape Town scored it 101-98, Timothy Kelcher (USA) had it 103-95 and the scoring referee Roland Dakin (England) saw it 103-99, all in favour of Foster.
The fight was scored under the 7-point must system used under the WBA championship rules.
The entire Transvaal Boxing Board of Control with Chairman Wilf Garforth, and Stanley Christodoulou the secretary were highly commended for their part in putting the tournament together.
Promoter, Maurice Toweel of Springbok Promotion worked like a superman from his wheelchair to ensure the success of the show.
There were no political or racial incidents at the show and Foster was quoted as saying “I came to fight not to talk about politics. It was my toughest light heavyweight fight. To me he wasn’t a white man or any other colour, just a man trying to take way a very valuable possession “.
Pierre Fourie’s influence spread far beyond the boxing ring. His fight with Foster in Johannesburg was really a test run for integrated sport. It is not an exaggeration to say that the clock would have been turned back years had it resulted in the racial disturbances that had been predicted at the time. Instead firm foundations were laid for racially mixed boxing in front of a mixed race audience by the professionalism and business-like approach of the two contestants.