Willie Toweel may have spent the earlier part of his career in the shadow of his brother Vic, but he had a brilliant run at the top with only a world title eluding him by a cat’s whisker.
An excellent amateur who represented South Africa at the Helsinki Olympics, Toweel won the South African bantamweight title in only his seventh bout as a pro, stopping Matthew Raaff in seven rounds in 1953 while still only 19 years old, adding the featherweight crown the following year by outpointing Tony Lombard.
Fighting mostly as a featherweight, he won several international fights before boiling himself down to bantamweight for a shot at the world champion, Robert Cohen, at the Rand Stadium in September 1955. Things almost came to a sudden end for the young Toweel when he was dropped twice in the second round, the bell coming to his rescue. However, in typical Toweel fashion, he gathered himself and staged an excellent comeback, outboxing the Frenchman for the most part before going down for a flash knockdown in the tenth. He came roaring back once again and even had Cohen in some trouble in the thirteenth round. There were many who thought that Toweel had done enough but the judges scored it a draw.
Not wanting a repeat of the weight issues that troubled Vic, Willie jumped straight up to lightweight to challenge South African and British Empire champion, Johnny “Smiler” van Rensburg. After injuring his right hand and ankle and with Van Rensburg working him over, Toweel’s brother and trainer, Alan, retired him in the corner at the end of the ninth round. It was his first defeat and the fight kickstarted an intense rivalry spanning a total of five fights (which Toweel would win 3-1-1) but not before tragedy struck.
In his next fight, Toweel met Hubert Essakow who was way too brave for his own good and died in hospital after being knocked out in the eleventh round. Essakow’s death would torment Toweel for the rest of his career. Before that fateful night, the stylish Toweel could best be described as a boxer-puncher but after that, he seemed to hold back when he had an opponent hurt and his knockout percentage dropped dramatically.
Still, he was such a good technician that it almost did not matter. He reversed his defeat to Van Rensburg, outpointing him in the rematch, becoming Empire, as well as SA lightweight champion. He then embarked on a successful UK campaign, where he became a popular attraction, even scoring a win over former world champion, Jimmy Carter. He was ranked among the top five lightweights in the world but could not land a title shot, eventually losing his British Empire title in 1959 to Dave Charnley, whom he had previously defeated.
He was viewed as little more than an opponent when he took on Len Matthews, a hot welterweight contender, at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York. Instead, it became his finest hour.
Toweel was dazzling, completely befuddling Matthews before he hit a near disaster in the eighth round. Matthews nailed him with a left hook as he leaned back from the punch. He went down heavily, made it to his feet but was knocked down again. He barely made it to the end of the bell but started a ferocious fightback in the next round that had the crowd on their feet, chanting his name. Toweel won a ten-round decision, even drawing comparisons to Sugar Ray Robinson from some members of the press.
It was to be his last great performance and he gradually started to fade, but not before winning a fourth national title in as many weight divisions, outpointing Bennie Nieuwenhuizen for the welterweight crown. He returned to Madison Square Garden for his final fight in 1960, getting stopped in eight rounds by future great, Emile Griffith.
He became a successful trainer, developing, among others, Charlie Weir, Brian Mitchell and Sugarboy Malinga for the first part of their careers.
Willie Toweel passed on in 2017 at the age of 83, his place in South African boxing history secured.
