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Professor Fleming is an associate professor in the Departments of Pan-African Studies & History at the University of Louisville. His research focuses on black South African popular cultures (mainly music, sport, literature and theatre) during the twentieth century. In 2020, he published his first monograph, Opposing Apartheid on Stage: King Kong the Musical (University of Rochester Press). Dr. Fleming has published in various academic journals, including History in Africa, The International Journal of History of Sport, and Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies. He is also the co-editor of Music, Performance and African Identities (New York: Routledge, 2011).
ABSTRACT:
“Fighting for the Race(s): Interracial Connections within South African Boxing Magazines in the Postwar Era”
Tyler Fleming, University of Louisville
If one sport was popular throughout South Africa across the during the postwar period, one could argue it was boxing. Boxing’s popularity cut across racial line in spite of the line between European and non-European boxing circles being clearly demarcated. Unlike cricket, rugby or soccer, boxing was arguably the lone sport where essentially all of South Africa’s racial and ethnic groups participated in and had achieved some sort of international success or recognition by the 1950s.  In pursuit of examining how relations between races occurred throughout the postwar period, this essay analyzes interracial discourses in two South African boxing magazines from this era, Fight and The African Ring. As magazines written for South African boxing circles, these magazines provide insight not only into boxing in South Africa but also the thoughts and feelings of fighters, managers, trainers, promoters, journalists, and the sport’s hardcore fans. Though these magazines’ runs were relatively short (Fight ran from 1946-1953 and then briefly came back in 1955 through 1957; while African Ring ran from 1949 to 1951), this essay argues that these periodicals represent key avenues at assessing how those particularly focused on boxing felt and thought at the time.
