Part 2 in an occasional series about boxing. Read Part 1. Also, watch a short video about George’s gym.
When George Khosi was a kid, living on the streets of Hillbrow, he dreamed of being a boxing champion. He fought his way (literally) through the ranks, and was on his way toward becoming one.
My fascination with Hillbrow – a former middle-class inner suburb that is now the toughest neighborhood in Joburg – began in February when I explored Hillbrow on a Joburg Photowalk. When I heard there would be another Hillbrow Photowalk this past weekend, exploring the grounds of the old Johannesburg General Hospital, I signed up, stat.
On my recent post about downtown Joburg, I received some questions about Hillbrow – a huge residential community overlooking the city center. I now have some answers.
Hillbrow was a bustling middle-class neighborhood until the end of apartheid rule, when it began to transform. Similar to many 20th-century American inner cities, Hillbrow’s white middle class fled to the suburbs, making way for poor black South Africans (who were previously barred from living in places like Hillbrow) and immigrants from across the continent. The population soared and crime grew rampant; Hillbrow became a “no-go” area for visitors.
