__NOTOC__ Elijah 'Tap Tap' Makhatini (born 3 October 1942) is a retired South African

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

boxer. Makhatini was born in

Eshowe Eshowe is the oldest town of European settlement in Zululand, historically also known as Eziqwaqweni, Ekowe or kwaMondi. Eshowe's name is said to be inspired by the sound of wind blowing through the more than 4 km² of the indigenous Dlinza ...

in Zululand in 1942, he started his boxing career in

Stanger KwaDukuza is a municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 2006, the municipal name was changed to KwaDukuza (which incorporates small towns such as Stanger, Balito, Shaka's Kraal, but the Zulu people in the area called it "Dukuza" well before ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in the 1970s. On 17 August 1974 Makhatini fought in South Africa's first multiracial boxing tournament, this tournament has held at the

Rand Stadium The Rand Stadium is a stadium in Rosettenville, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was set to be utilized as a training field for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup after being completely rebuilt and reopened in August 2008. D ...

in Johannesburg and was promoted by Maurice Toweel. Makhatini fought Juarez de Lima of Brazil, Makhatini won on points. In 1975 Makhatini faced

Emile Griffith Emile Alphonse Griffith (February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013) was a professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who won world titles in three weight divisions. He held the world light middleweight, undisputed welterweight, and middleweight t ...

the

US Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

boxer in the

Orlando Stadium Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is the home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team that plays in the Premier Soccer League. O ...

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

and beat him on points. He was awarded the

Order of Ikhamanga The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is granted by the President of South Africa for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports (which were initially recognised b ...

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