# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/jacob-matlala
# Generated: 2026-09-07T20:30:21.417Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/jacob-matlala"
name: "Jacob Matlala"
slug: "jacob-matlala"
description: "Jacob \"Baby Jake\" Matlala was a South African professional boxer and four-time world champion who competed from 1980 to 2002. Standing about 4 ft 10 in, he is the shortest boxer in history to win a world title. He was a world champion in two weight classes: having held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight title from 1993 to 1995 and the WBO light-flyweight from 1995 to 1997. He scored high-profile wins against international opponents during the 1990s. He was a hugely popular national figure in South Africa — admired for his fighting spirit and charitable work — and was publicly counted among Nelson Mandela’s favourite sportspeople. In 2004, Matlala was voted #72 in the \"100 Greatest South Africans\" poll organized by SABC."
tagline: "South African boxer (1962-2013)"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "South Africa"
  isoCode: "ZA"
category:
  name: "Athletes"
  slug: "athletes"
profileType:
  name: "Athlete"
  slug: "athlete"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2066131"
birthDate: "1962-08-01"
deathDate: "2013-12-07"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           47.61
  momentum:             3.833333333333334
  historical:           8.966669333333334
  currentAttention:     21.2962962962963
  sourceConfidence:     54.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  55
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://xh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%83%D9%88%D8%A8_%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7"
    title: "جاكوب ماتلالا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B3%E3%83%96%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9"
    title: "ジェイコブ・マトラーラ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Matlala"
    title: "Jacob Matlala"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%2C_%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B1"
    title: "Матлала, Джейкоб"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3805791"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump