WHEN Jacob Ntuli first came over to the UK in 1952, he did so as an unknown. Born in Soweto, Johannesburg, the little African had won each of his 10 professional contests and had picked up the South African flyweight and bantamweight titles along the way. In those days, of course, the two titles he had won were the non-White versions, as black fighters were barred from taking part in full South African title bouts as these were only open to white boxers.
Jake Tuli, as he is better known, was quickly matched with Teddy Gardner in a match for the Empire flyweight crown. In mid-August 1952, Gardner’s promoter, Sol Sheckman, who pulled the strings at the St James Hall, Newcastle, where Gardner was a big draw, had offered world champion, Yoshio Shirai, £6,000 to defend against Gardner the following month. This was a big purse for little men at that time, but the Japanese fighter didn’t bite and so Sheckman quickly arranged for Tuli to fight Gardner.
Gardner was the reigning British, European and Empire champion and Tuli, a virtual novice by comparison, was expected to be a push-over while Gardner bided time for bigger contests.Teddy had been around since 1934 and was finding it hard to make the weight. He also held down a full-time job running a pub in his hometown. At 34, he was no match for the 21-year-old Tuli, and after his defeat, which was crushing, Teddy quickly retired.
Doors then opened for Tuli. His trainer, Dave Finn, had only just taken out a licence and Tuli was his first charge. Dave knew a thing or two about the game, having fought 174 times as a pro, at the top level, between 1930 and 1946. The following month Jake was back at St James Hall to fight Middlesbrough’s Jimmy Pearce, who had recently lost out to Terry Allen in a British title eliminator. Tuli flattened his man in eight rounds and the Geordie fight fans knew that they had a real prospect on their hands.
Then tragedy struck. His next contest, at the Royal Albert Hall, was a real cracker. BN reported that “Rarely have the spectators been roused to cheer two fighters at the end of every round as they joyfully did throughout the contest between Jake Tuli and Honore Pratesi, France.
This was 10 rounds of sparkling action that was a treat to watch and thoroughly appreciated until the decision was given in favour of Tuli, most of the spectators being swayed by the grandstand finish put up by the little Frenchman”. Immediately after the contest, Pratesi collapsed in his dressing room and, despite two emergency operations, he died two days later.
Grief-stricken, Tuli donated his purse to Pratesi’s widow and postponed his next engagement with Vic Herman, due to take place later that month in Manchester. Tuli remained unbeaten in the UK during 1953 before returning home to defend his non-White bantamweight title three times in 10 weeks.
When he returned in December 1953, he lost against world-class Robert Cohen at Belle Vue, Manchester, being decked four times in the process. Cohen went on to win the world bantamweight crown just nine months later. After being the Empire champion for two years, Jake then defended it against Dai Dower at Harringay Arena. In a close contest, referee Andrew Smythe raised the Welshman’s hand at the end of 15. The photograph shows that Tuli was expecting his hand to go up and BN commented that it was “a sad evening for Tuli, who has gone back immeasurably since that ill-advised match with Robert Cohen”.
Tuli stayed in British rings until 1957, when he returned home. An unsuccessful comeback in 1967 did him no good at all and when he died, in November 1999, BN’s Ron Olver said that his death went virtually unnoticed in the South-African press. His fire burnt briefly but brightly and, back in 1952 he was a big name in the sport, particularly in the North-East.
