Langton Schoolboy
By Tapfuma Machakaire
It is said you will never go wrong in life when you enjoy unflinching support from your mother. Could that be the strength that propelled legendary boxer, Langton “Schoolboy” Tinago, to stardom?
The boxer earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the only three-time Commonwealth boxing champion and was awarded the best boxer of the century by the Zimbabwe Boxing Board of Control in the process.
It is on record that Tinago’s biggest fan was his mother who is said to have hardly missed a match from the time her son became a professional boxer aged only 18.
While it is not clear how Langton earned the nickname Schoolboy, one journalist said the name was coined by those who realised that Langton started throwing jabs as a young boy when he was still in school. Another scribe who is a sportswriter said he was named after a Rhodesian welterweight great, Jake Schoolboy.
The boxer was born Langton Tinago in Shurugwi on September 28, 1949. His mother was Ever Pombi. Tinago went into professional boxing in 1967.
“I started boxing when I was a teenager. In 1977, I defeated Herald Vabrect, who was world’s number seven and the following year I beat Nkosana Happyboy in East London, South Africa. Back then, we were not being recognised internationally and my victories were just mere personal glory,” said Tinago in one of the few interviews he gave before he hung his gloves in 1990.
Tinago, who was under the stable of one of the best boxing trainers in Zimbabwe, Dave Wellings, won his first club lightweight title in 1980 when he beat Nigeria’s Hogan Jimoh in his own backyard in Lagos. The following year he was crowned Zimbabwe’s Sportsperson of the Year.
He went on to win the super-featherweight title in 1983 with a unanimous points victory when he exchanged blows with yet another Nigerian, Safiu Oke Badan, at the City Sports Centre in Harare.
In 1986 he beat Australia’s Graeme Brooke in Manchester to become the Commonwealth lightweight champion. For the 23 years that he was a professional boxer Tinago won 86 out of the 110 matches that he contested in around the world. He lost in 20 matches and drew four times.
In an interview with Munyaradzi Musiiwa of The Herald in Gweru in March 2015, Tinago revealed the secret to his achievements as hard training and determination.
“When I was still boxing I used to run about 100km. Sometimes I would go to Norton from Harare back and forth running. While I was in Gweru, I used to run up to Shangani, which is about 60 kilometres away, and sometimes to Lalapanzi,” he told the reporter
In 2018 Tinago was reported to have gone destitute despite his achievements in the ring. In a story varied by the Sunday News of April 22, 2018 he is quoted saying,
“Right now I feel neglected, wondering where all those people who used to fill up Rufaro Stadium just to watch me fight are when I am struggling like this. The only income I get is my pension from the Gweru City Council and a ‘barbershop’ I rent out. I won three titles at the Commonwealth that is two lightweight titles and a super-featherweight title. I was unstoppable and I am by far Zimbabwe’s greatest sportsperson, but why don’t I get recognition for everything I did for this country? If I were from Europe or a white person I could still be getting a lot of money and honour. Yet In this country, people are waiting for me to die so that they can come and deliver glowing speeches standing next to my coffin.”
Tinago ran a boxing academy in Gweru at Mtapa Hall and groomed his son Brilliant “Schoolboy” Tinago who is a former youth games boxing champion. He also trained Commonwealth champion, Alfonso “Mosquito” Zvenyika.
Tinago died in Gweru on July 16, 2018 at the age of 69.
Zimbabwe National Boxing Control Board chairman Richard Hondo said, “Langton is the greatest boxer to ever emerge out of Zimbabwe. I am speaking from my heart when I say Tinago is the greatest Zimbabwean boxer since regulated boxing started in Zimbabwe in 1956”.
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