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Former heavyweight champion Sanders shot dead
Source: Agencies |
September 24, 2012, Monday
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CORRIE Sanders, the South African southpaw who knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in one of the great upsets in heavyweight boxing, has died after being shot by robbers at a restaurant during a family celebration.
The former WBO and WBU champion was 46.
Sanders was shot in the hand and stomach at a family member's 21st birthday gathering at the restaurant in Brits, in North West Province, on Saturday night, police said. He died in a hospital in the capital Pretoria in the early hours yesterday morning.
"It's very sad," Sanders' former trainer Harold Volbrecht told a South African radio station. "My heart is broken. It's just terrible. I can't believe it happened."
Police Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said three armed men entered the restaurant with the apparent intention to rob it and shot randomly, hitting Sanders. No other injuries were reported. The robbers took a cellphone and a bag from customers, he said.
Renowned for his impressive hand speed, the 1.93-meter Sanders was one of South Africa's most successful and popular fighters after a near 20-year professional career. He retired in 2008 with a 42-4 record, with 31 knockouts, but was remembered for the shock second-round knockout of Klitschko in Germany in 2003 that earned him the WBO title and respect across the world as a wily, fast and clever fighter as well as a powerful puncher.
He then lost to Wladimir's older brother Vitali for the vacant WBC title the following year, Vitali's first fight for the title he still holds. Sanders had earlier relinquished his WBU crown in a seventh-round stoppage by Hasim Rahman after being ahead in their fight in 2000.
The former WBO and WBU champion was 46.
Sanders was shot in the hand and stomach at a family member's 21st birthday gathering at the restaurant in Brits, in North West Province, on Saturday night, police said. He died in a hospital in the capital Pretoria in the early hours yesterday morning.
"It's very sad," Sanders' former trainer Harold Volbrecht told a South African radio station. "My heart is broken. It's just terrible. I can't believe it happened."
Police Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said three armed men entered the restaurant with the apparent intention to rob it and shot randomly, hitting Sanders. No other injuries were reported. The robbers took a cellphone and a bag from customers, he said.
Renowned for his impressive hand speed, the 1.93-meter Sanders was one of South Africa's most successful and popular fighters after a near 20-year professional career. He retired in 2008 with a 42-4 record, with 31 knockouts, but was remembered for the shock second-round knockout of Klitschko in Germany in 2003 that earned him the WBO title and respect across the world as a wily, fast and clever fighter as well as a powerful puncher.
He then lost to Wladimir's older brother Vitali for the vacant WBC title the following year, Vitali's first fight for the title he still holds. Sanders had earlier relinquished his WBU crown in a seventh-round stoppage by Hasim Rahman after being ahead in their fight in 2000.
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