Most veteran South African athletes and artists rarely receive honours for flying the country’s flag high but a well-known Johannesburg mechanic is determined to change that.
Nico Lagidze, a Mercedes-Benz and BMW specialist who owns Merc Auto World in Rivonia, paid tribute to retired boxing icon Dingaan Thobela by offering him a free service for his vehicles.
Lagidze said, “Let’s honour these guys while they are still alive because they honoured us while they were still at the peak of their careers. We are just doing our part to show appreciation for what Dingaan has done for us.”
He added they would offer these free services to other legends in various fields.
Thobela, popularly known as ‘The Rose of Soweto’, sold South Africa to the world through his boxing exploits in the 1990s and early 2000s. He scored 29 knockouts in 54 professional fights and became the first-ever South African boxer to win four world titles in different weight divisions. His WBC middleweight world title fight against British icon Glenn Catley in 2000 was the first ever WBC-sanctioned fight to be held in South Africa.
Thobela said having people who still looked up to him when he was retired was a blessing.
“I would like to thank Nico for helping us, retired legends, with a free service. He is a man of his word and I wish him all the best.”
Thobela hoped that Lagidze could continue with this brilliant idea.
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