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Wilted Rose

Dingaan Thobela, due to face Soon Botes for a super middleweight bout, was undoubtedly one of South Africa's greatest boxers. But now he is a spent force in the eyes of both friend and foe.

Dingaan Thobela, due to face Soon Botes for a super middleweight bout, was undoubtedly one of South Africa's greatest boxers. But now he is a spent force in the eyes of both friend and foe.

Thobela's mission is to prove that, at 40, he still has what it takes. But he is no George Foreman or Sugar Ray Leonard, both of whom came back triumphantly from the obscurity of retirement.

Muhammad Ali tried to make a late comeback and even he failed.

Tactically, Thobela is by far superior. But the 33-year-old Botes is a notch above him in strength.

This farcical clash is a disaster waiting to happen. Thobela has only himself to blame for choosing such an ignoble exit from boxing history.

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