Former world heavyweight boxing champion Kallie Knoetze’s grandson is in a stable condition in hospital after Knoetze accidentally drove over him, Beeld reported on Monday.

Nuan, four, and his brother Liam, two, were visiting their grandfather on his plot near Hartbeespoort a few days ago when they wandered into the path of the reversing bakkie Knoetze was trying to park.

After he heard someone banging on the side of the bakkie, he got out, and Liam told him that his brother had been hurt.

“Stop crying, grandpa, you’re a big guy. Everything’s going to be just fine,” the injured child reportedly told Knoetze.

Nuan was rushed to hospital, where he was stabilised and treated for a fractured pelvis.

Knoetze told the newspaper that doctors and nurses were his new heroes, as they had managed to save his grandson’s life.

“I’ve never cried so much in my entire life,” he told Beeld.

He said he had received supportive phone calls from all over the world, and that his grandson was expected to stay in hospital for another three weeks.

By Sapa