The Rise and Fall of Lehlo Ledwaba, World Champion Haunted by Memories of Pacquiao
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Lehlo’ Hands of Stone’ Ledwaba fought in ten world title bouts, yet his name is unknown on the radar. A native of Soweto, South Africa, Ledwaba holds a unique historical claim to boxing history, and for this reason he is the focus of this story. Ledwaba rose to 33-1-1 as the International Boxing Federation Super Bantamweight champion of the world.
Ledwaba was considered the best super bantamweight in the world after he won six consecutive IBF Super Bantamweight world title bouts. On June 23, 2001, Ledwaba was scheduled to defend his IBF world title against challenge Enrique Sanchez of Mexico, who pulled out. Manny Pacquiao, an unknown Filipino fighter out of Los Angeles, took the bout with Ledwaba at MGM Grand Las Vegas as a last minute substitute on four days of notice.
Ledwaba’s camp knew nothing about Pacquiao and was not prepared for the unknown opponent. To this day, the memory of Manny Pacquiao haunts Ledwaba, who felt-given sufficient preparation time for Pacquiao-he could have and would have beaten him.
Now a trainer in CWH boxing gym in Soweto, Ledwaba noted about Pacquiao “When I fought him (back in 2001) then, I got a notice of four days. Pacquiao came in as a late substitute. For me, it was very very difficult to prepare for Pacquiao (under those circumstances). You need to take days, weeks and months in order to fight a boxer. When I fought Manny then, I didn’t know anything about him. To me he was a closed book. The only time I got information and tapes of him was when I was at the weigh-in the day before the fight (which wasn’t enough time to prepare in any way for Pacquiao’s style of fight).”
Ledwaba got knocked down by Pacquiao twice in the fifth round and lost his IBF world title. Thereafter Ledwaba won the WBU World Featherweight title, and fought twice for the IBO World Super Featherweight title. He finished his career 36-6-1 with 23 knockouts. Sadly, Ledwaba never got the rematch with Manny Pacquiao he felt he deserved.
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