About Jacob Matlala
Jacob "Baby Jake" Matlala was a South African professional boxer and four-time world champion who competed from 1980 to 2002. Standing about 4 ft 10 in, he is the shortest boxer in history to win a world title. He was a world champion in two weight classes: having held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight title from 1993 to 1995 and the WBO light-flyweight from 1995 to 1997. He scored high-profile wins against international opponents during the 1990s. He was a hugely popular national figure in South Africa — admired for his fighting spirit and charitable work — and was publicly counted among Nelson Mandela’s favourite sportspeople. In 2004, Matlala was voted #72 in the "100 Greatest South Africans" poll organized by SABC. List of flyweight boxing champions List of light-flyweight boxing champions Boxing record for Jacob Matlala from BoxRec (registration required). Jacob "Baby Jake" Matlala (1 August 1962 – 7 December 2013) was a South African professional boxer and four-time world champion who competed from 1980 to 2002. Jacob Matlala died on 7 December 2013, at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.