From knocking out the best boxers in the ring to kicking kickboxers until they keeled over, Shorne Moorcroft has achieved the ultimate in boxing and kickboxing. He has been abroad more than 45 times during his career, visiting more than 20 countries.
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Shorne started training as a boxer in 1970, when he was seven years old. He trained at Newville Boxing Club with a trainer named Snake Snyman. From then on, he continued to grow as a boxer, competing in many championship competitions. His first was the novice championships for beginners, which he won. Three years later, he moved to the Hugenote Boxing Club in Brixton, and from there he started winning the Southern Transvaal Championships, Schools Championships and Transvaal Championships, and was first runner-up in the South African National Championships. As a senior at the age of 17, Shorne once again showed he was a young boxer worthy of being noticed when he won the Southern Transvaal title, and the Gauteng Championships, and was runner-up in the South African championships. Shorne then went into the National Defence Force where he won the Defence championships twice. This motivated him to turn professional in 1986, when he became a sparring partner to boxing icon Brian Mitchell.
“Brian and I are very close. This was when I was just starting to get into the professional boxing arena. I helped him a lot with his world championships fights and he also helped me. At one point, I was ranked fourth in the professional boxing rankings. I also fought my good friend Dingaan Thobela twice, once as an amateur and the next as a professional,” he said.
It was during this time, while his boxing career was still developing, that Shorne watched a kickboxing fight on television – and he never looked back. He started investigating clubs to join and finally found one called the Summit Club in Johannesburg. After training hard, he won the South African kickboxing title. It was a meeting with well-respected kickboxing icon Master Joe Viljoen that made the biggest impact on his professional career, however. After meeting Master Joe, Shorne opened his own Ring Contact Fighting Art School at the Danie van Zyl Recreational Centre and adopted Master Joe’s Ring Contact Fight Art style for his club.
At his club, he trained many boxers, but he did not neglect his own kickboxing training in his pursuit of glory in the sport. The glory came in 1992, when his first world title fight against a Russian opponent garnered him his first World Championship title. He won the fight on points. At the time he was also the South African featherweight kickboxing champion.
“Since then I’ve had 9 world title bouts, fighting an Italian, a Mexican, a Frenchman, a guy from Poland, and an Englishman. This made me a four-time world champion in four different categories for four different organisations – the World Association of Kickboxing Organisations, the World Professional Kickboxing Association, the World Kickboxing Association and the Ring Contact Fight Art championship.
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Shorne’s career came to a halt in 1997 after a serious car accident. It changed his life.
“After that I said enough, no more. I did not even want to bother with another title challenge again. After I healed from my accident I started running and trained for the Comrades Marathon which I finished seven times. Then I became an administrator in the world of kickboxing, and was the vice-chairperson of the South African amateur association for 14 years. I am also the founder of the Gauteng Kickboxing Association. Gauteng will have its fifth provincial championships this year. I have also earned my national colours, not only as a boxer but as a coach and manager. Now I train boxers, and I’m also a provincial judge and referee as well as chairperson of the Johannesburg Amateur Boxing Organisation,” he said.
Shorne might have not known he would one of the best in the world, but his parents were convinced of his greatness because he believed in himself.
“When I was in primary boxing, I used to shadow box in the backyard at home. I would throw my arms up and scream “World champion”, and imagine my name being announced after a victory. Those are the stories my family likes to talk about to this day. But it’s all about having a passion and working hard. As a schoolboy I did my school work, but also never forgot my boxing class.”
As an international judge and referee in kickboxing as well as an A class official, Shorne is invited to officiate and be a guest speaker in numerous countries around the world.
“Boxing will always be in my blood. It was as natural for me to use my hands as it was to learn to kick when I was introduced to kickboxing. Now I’m a sixth degree black belt in ring contact fighting art.
“When you win your first junior boxing match or your first world kickboxing title, the thought that goes through your head is, ‘Who would have thought I would win such titles?’.”
In 2010, Shorne was chosen to be a judge and a referee at the Sports Combat Games – the only South African to accomplish this. “This was the highlight of my career. I was given the chances; I took them and made the most of them. Now I will be doing the same for other people, and it’s up to those youngsters to grab the chances.”
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