Former South African champion passes away
Former South African and Cape junior bantamweight champion Simphiwe Pamana passed away on 9 October at the age of 52.
It was reported that he was killed in a hit-and-run accident in East London and those family members only found his body last Sunday at the Westbank mortuary.
Some records have his date of birth on 10 February 1970 and others have it as 21 March 1970.
Pamana made his professional debut on 5 November 1989, losing on points over four rounds against Marinki Booi.
He remained undefeated in his next eight fights before winning the Cape junior bantamweight title on 23 February 1992 with a tenth-round stoppage win over Vumile Gqomo.
His next fight was on 18 October at the Orient Theatre in East London where he won the South African junior bantamweight title with points win over Jaji Sibali (18-4-1) but lost the title to Sibali (tko 9) in a return match on 6 October 1993.
On 19 May 1996, he challenged Patrick Quka for the South African bantamweight title but lost on points over 12 rounds.
He traveled to London in April 1997 to meet Paul Lloyd on the 16th at the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, for the Commonwealth bantamweight title, losing on an 11th-round stoppage.
This gutsy little fighter had another crack at trying to win a South African title when he met Sandile Sobandla for the vacant South African bantamweight title on 21 June 1998 but lost on an eighth-round technical knockout.
He had one more crack at trying to win a South African title on 17 December 2000 at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, losing to Sandile Sobandla on a 12th-round technical knockout.
After this defeat he had five more fights, winning his last fight on 25 October 2002 on a third-round stoppage against Vuysile Tinga at the Centenary Hall in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth,
He finished with a record of 20 wins and eight losses, with eight wins coming inside the distance. Four of his eight losses were inside the distance.