Boxing legend Tar Baby laid to rest

Zimbabwe’s legendary boxers, Jao Mohammed Afonso, who died on Friday.
A former Rhodesian light-heavyweight and then heavyweight champion, Jao Afonso, whose name in the square ring was Beira Tar Baby, died after a battle with prostrate cancer, according to members of his family.

Born on August 1, 1933, Tar Baby was a household name in boxing as he had an illustrious career of 49 recorded professional fights, spanning from 1959 to 1963.
One of the celebrated pugilist’s sons, Misheck Mutemaringa, said his father succumbed to illness at his home along Mushongandebvu Drive in Harare’s high-density suburb of Mbare.
“He started getting worse last year in June but later we thought he had recovered but the illness recurred.
“At one time one of his grandchildren took him to Bindura for treatment but he never recovered until he returned home.

“We were told that it was prostrate cancer and he was having problems with his bladder,” said Mutemaringa.
Tar Baby continued to be under the weather despite taking a lot of medication and herbs.
“At least some of the medication helped him but from the end of last year, he started having problems when going to the toilet and he had been in pain until his death. As a family we are at a great loss,” said Mutemaringa.

Mutemaringa, who was introduced to boxing by his father, said the late Tar Baby was a larger than life character.
“All his life, he was a boxer. Even when he had to take up some sort of employment, it was because of his boxing background.
“He was the one who trained us and I remember going for my first fight in Marondera after my father had been asked to go and open a Mashonaland Turf Club branch there.

“We went to Marondera to open the MTC offices but he asked us to stage a fight for the people there. He just loved boxing very much and he was a champion for many years before he retired and then took up coaching,” said Mutemaringa.
From his house at No. 151 Mushongandebvu Drive in Mbare, Tar Baby went on to inspire a lot of boxers like the late Proud “Kilimanjaro” Chinembiri, Gilbert “Giro” Josamu (late) and former

Commonwealth flyweight champion Zvenyika “Mosquito” Arifonso.
“I think he inspired a lot of people to take up boxing and he was a great opponent to people like Ringo Starr and Langton Schoolboy,” said Mutemaringa.
Tar Baby’s wife Agnes died in 1994 while the celebrated boxer had six children and several grandchildren.

Years after Tar Baby had hung up his gloves, he continued to nurture talent from his home in Mbare.
One of the boxers to pass through his hands, Jestara “Master” Muziwande, yesterday said the void left by Tar Baby would be huge.
“I began to work with him when I was doing my Form One at Mufakose Two High School in 1991.

“When I completed my ‘O’ Levels in 1994, I moved in to stay with him in Mbare until I took a break from the sport. I briefly worked in Kadoma but returned to boxing and continued to work with Tar Baby.
“He was a father-figure to me and the rest of the boxers.

“While he will be missed, we cherish the wisdom he imparted to us and right now I am a boxing trainer after passing through Tar Baby’s hands,” said Muziwande.
Muziwande hopes that the Zimbabwe Boxing and Wrestling Association will give them the greenlight to host boxing tournaments, especially at Mbare’s Stodart Netball Complex and Mai Musodzi Hall, in honour of the late boxer.

“If he knew that one was a boxer, he did not hesitate to help him.
“I remember he used to wake us up as early as 4am for road runs and some people used to chide us for overworking the old man yet in fact it was the old man who was overworking us,” said Muziwande.

Speaking at Tar Baby’s burial yesterday, the Minister of Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, urged up-and-coming athletes to emulate the dedication shown by the late boxer.
“The young people should know that sport is something that has to be taken seriously,” said Shamu.

“People have to carry forward the good work by Tar Baby.
“Our Government is not helping much in sport and even the local government used to organise the boys and girls clubs but there are no longer there. Some of us learnt swimming at George Hartley

Swimming Pool near Stodart Hall in Mbare where we just went and found the swimming trunks there or even balls and boxing gloves.
“The beer gardens used to generate some revenue that was channelled towards these sports clubs and I do not know now if its corruption or mismanagement that has affected the system,” said Shamu.

Tar Baby left his home country Mozambique in the 1940s and settled in Mbare where he adopted the name Beira Tar Baby.
He turned professional in 1959 after dominating the amateur ranks.

During his career he used to trade leather with fighters like Ringo Starr, Kid Power, Elias Kingfisher, Richie Kates, Freddy Young, Onias Gun Fighter and King Motsi, staging bouts in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa

At his peak, Beira Tar Baby believed he could have floored Mohammed Ali but he never got a chance to fight the world-renowned boxer.
He attempted to make a comeback into the square ring in 1991 but was deemed too old for a comeback by the local boxing board.