ContinueEx-heavyweight champion Corrie Sanders has died in a shooting whilst attending his nephews 21st birthday party.
The 47-year-old, who knocked out Wladimir Klitschko to become WBO heavyweight champion in 2003, was at a restaurant just outside his home town of Pretoria when he was caught up in an armed robbery and shot in the stomach.
An eyewitness told The Sowetan newspaper, "There were three of them. Armed with pistols.
They were telling everyone to lie down and give them their wallets and mobile phones. They didn’t take much. They were working their way through the room when a car alarm went off outside and they panicked and ran.
"Corrie was the only one shot. He didn’t try anything heroic as far as I could see. He was just in the wrong place, by the entrance. They shot him through the stomach and I also saw a wound in his arm, it might have been from the same bullet, which went right through him.”
A police spokesman gave the following statement: "In the midst of the celebrations, about three suspects came in," the spokesman explained.
"They were planning to commit an armed robbery. Then in the armed robbery they shot randomly. Corrie was shot in the hand and also the stomach.
"They fled with a digital camera and also a handbag of one of the people who was in the restaurant."
Police have not yet made any arrests but the spokeman said they are "in hot pursuit".
