Baby Jake Matlala: The Pint-Sized Boxing Giant
Jacob “Baby Jake” Matlala was a South African professional boxer who became one of his country’s most celebrated sports figures. Standing about 4 feet 10 inches tall, he is widely recognized as the shortest boxer to win a world title. Across a career from 1980 to 2002, he won four world championships in the flyweight and junior flyweight divisions.
A four-title career
Matlala won his first world title on May 15, 1993, when he stopped Scotland’s Pat Clinton in the eighth round in Glasgow to claim the World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight championship. He later won the WBO light-flyweight title and the International Boxing Association (IBA) light-flyweight championship.
His best-known international victory came on July 18, 1997, in Las Vegas. Matlala stopped former champion Michael Carbajal in the ninth round to win the IBA light-flyweight title. The win made him a rare champion from South Africa to capture a world belt in the United States.
He also won the World Boxing Union (WBU) junior-flyweight title, completing a four-title collection across the flyweight and junior-flyweight divisions. Contemporary reports describe him as South Africa’s only boxer to win four world titles at the time.
A celebrated farewell
Matlala ended his professional career on March 2, 2002, at Carnival City in Brakpan. He stopped Colombia’s Juan Herrera in the seventh round to retain his WBU junior-flyweight title. Nelson Mandela and actor Will Smith watched the farewell bout, and Matlala presented his WBU belt to Mandela.
Matlala died on December 7, 2013, aged 51. Remembered for his fighting spirit and community work, he became a national icon whose achievements far exceeded his stature.
Sources
Sources: BoxRec career and title record; South African History Online biography; Laureus tribute; Brand South Africa; Mail & Guardian.
Tags
Boxing, Boxing History
