Moore than 50 years after Johnny Arthur was one of the most recognisable sportsmen in South Africa his name still rings a bell among boxing fans.

His drawing power and fights against some of the best-known boxers of his time made him a headline-grabbing, popular sportsman in several countries.

However, not many people remember that he was a promising rugby player before he took to boxing. When he was a boy, he was interested only in playing rugby. He had no interest in boxing.

In 1946, he played on the flank in one match for the Transvaal under-19 team and then on the flank and in the front row for the Eastern Transvaal under-19s.

When a rugby coach advised him to join a boxing club as part of his training for the new season, he enjoyed it so much that he gave up rugby. The result was that he was selected to represent South Africa in the heavyweight division at the Olympics Games in London in 1948.

Hardly out of the novice ranks, the young man, born John Duncan Arthur on August 29, 1929 in Germiston, was the surprise package at the Olympic trials in 1948.

He stopped Air Force lieutenant Billy Nicholas in the final; the same Nicholas who had fought in the trials to select a team for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. His loss to Arthur was considered a major upset.

There were 17 entrants for the heavyweight division at the Olympics in London and Arthur received a bye in the first round. In the second series he outpointed an American, E Lambert. But in the semifinal Arthur lost on points to Rafael Iglesias from Argentina, who later won the gold medal.

The baby-faced South African was to meet Hans Muller of Switzerland for third place, but Muller had suffered such severe injuries in his previous fight that he failed the medical test and Arthur was awarded the bronze medal by default.

The tall, powerfully built Arthur made his professional debut in May 1949 and stopped Jimmy Britt in three rounds. He went on to win his first 17 fights – 14 by knockout. However, a lot of his fights were scrambling affairs and some critics felt he had no future.

Among his opponents were shrewd fighters such as Piet Strydom, Barney Collins, Japie Smit, Conrad Botha, Archie Smith, George Hunter and Reg Andrews, an Englishman who was a 39-fight veteran.

Arthur suffered his first defeat on December 1, 1951 when he was knocked out in the third round by Joe Weidin from Austria.

Challenging for Empire title

Arthur then went to England in 1952. Managed by Sam Burns, he won his first fight in the UK when he beat Noel Reid. He lost on points to Ansel Adams but outpointed Frank Bell and stopped George Nuttal before challenging Johnny Williams for the Empire heavyweight title.

Arthur acquitted himself well against the experienced Welshman before being forced to retire with a badly cut eye in the seventh round.

Returning to South Africa, Arthur won the national heavyweight title when he stopped Louw Strydom in the ninth round on January 31, 1953.

He was reported as saying he was nearly as proud of the title as when he became a Springbok.

He retained the title against Strydom in two rematches and against Jack Kukard; winning all thee bouts inside the distance.

On January 30, 1954, Arthur fought England’s Don Cockell for the Empire heavyweight title. Cockell won a poor fight in Johannesburg on points over 15 rounds.

Cockell, nicknamed the Battersea Blacksmith, later put up a courageous performance against Rocky Marciano in a challenge for the world title.

Off to Canada and US

After a sixth-knockout win over Mike Oberholzer to retain the SA title, Arthur – who never attracted big crowds – accepted an offer to campaign in Canada and the United States.

In Canada he spent some months in the gym to learn about some of the rough tricks of the trade. However, he lacked “killer instinct”.

Arthur spent 18 months in North America where he was managed by Bobby Evans.

In 1955 he beat Jimmy Walls, Eddie Cameron, Frank Buford and Bob Dunlap, a highly-rated fighter, before losing on points to Bob Albright. He finished the year with a second-round stoppage of Billy Wallace.

Up against Pastrano and Chuvalo – and the mob

In January 1956 he lost on points over 12 rounds to James J Parker and then, fighting in New Orleans, he was outboxed by future world light-heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano.

The Ring magazine described the bout as the easiest $4000 that Pastrano had earned. Arthur earned $2200 dollars but did not win a round against his 20-year-old opponent.

A young George Chuvalo then beat the South African on points over eight rounds. The tough Canadian also fought Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman during a career of 93 professional fights.

In an interview with Shane Cloete, a reporter from the Pretoria newspaper Hoofstad in 1977, Arthur said he had deliberately lost to Chuvalo because he had been threatened by gangsters.

They allegedly told him his wife would be hurt if he won the fight and also demanded he give 10 percent of his purse to mafia henchman.

He later repeated the allegations when he was a guest speaker at the East Rand Veteran Boxers Association, claiming that US boxing was controlled by the mafia.

However, despite the problems outside the ring, Arthur made a lot more money than he would have earned in South Africa where his biggest purse was the equivalent of R3000 for the fight against Cockell. When he returned from America, he brought back $30 000.

On October 13, 1956 he stopped Gawie de Klerk in the second round. De Klerk, who was badly cut near one of his eyes, later became one of the better SA heavyweights and won the national title.

After stopping the hard-hitting Dries Nieman, who had won the heavyweight bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he knocked out Buddy Walker in Luanshya (also known as Luanshaya) in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia.

Arthur retired in August 1957 at the age of 27.

He was never beaten by a South African and won 33 of his 41 professional bouts; 27 inside the distance.

The father of four boys and a girl became a successful farmer and businessman near White River in the former Transvaal Lowveld.

Arthur maintained contact with Cockell and helped him when his former opponent was suffering from cancer. He also exchanged Christmas cards with Williams who brought his wife Jocey along when he returned to visit Arthur at his farm.

Arthur died in White River on May 18, 2005.