What exactly happened to Gerrie Coetzee?

After a bit of an up-and-down career — he knocked Leon Spinks out in one round but was beaten by John Tate and Mike Weaver in title fights, lost a controversial decision to Renaldo Snipes and fought Pinklon Thomas to a draw — Gerrie Coetzee seemed to have finally arrived when he stopped Michael Dokes to win the WBA heavyweight title in September of 1983.

The South African with the bionic right hand was on top of the world … or at least the WBA-controlled part of the heavyweight boxing scene.

Then things got weird.

He was out of the ring for 15 months — much of it waiting for a unification fight with Larry Holmes that was made twice, only to fall apart twice as financing fell through — before scheduling his first (and only) defense in his native South Africa vs. Greg Page in December of ‘84.

Page, who seemed to be ahead on points (although I’ve never seen how the official scorecards had it) won by KO in an eighth round that ran nearly a minute too long.

You’d have thought Coetzee would have got an immediate rematch under the circumstances. You’d have thought wrong. The WBA reviewed the result and let it stand.

From that point, Coetzee goes from being a presence in the 1980s heavyweight ranks to basically being a non-factor. By the time he steps back in the ring in September ‘84, Page has already lost the title in a battle of the bulge with fellow fat boy Tony Tubbs. Coetzee beat James Tillis over 10 rounds in his native South Africa, put him back in the picture somewhat. At this point, Gerrie has gone from a guy who normally weighed in the 215-220 range to 232 and never really gets back in shape again.

In fact, six months later he was fighting Frank Bruno in a title eliminator in England. But Frank caught Gerrie with a monster right to knock him down and then put him through the ropes with another for a devastating KO win.

And that’s the end of Coetzee, more or less.

He disappears for seven years, has a couple of bouts, then drops out for another four years before having two more fights, losing to heavyweight Iran Barkley in his final bout.

So what was the deal here? How did Coetzee go from his crowning achievement to basically being of no consequence from that point on? Just long periods of inactivity and few positive results.

Seems like after beating Dokes he would have been destined to be in the heavyweight mix for several years to come, but basically did nothing from that moment on (apart from losing to Page in a bout where he seemed to have regressed).

Does anyone have any insight as to what happened to him, how we fell off the map in such now-you-see-him-now-you-don’t fashion?

 

I think this is a bit of rewritten history that kind of became the accepted narrative but wasn’t really true.

Nobody outside of South Africa considered Coetzee-Knoetze to be a major fight in 1976. Gerrie was 13-0 and Knoetze was 6-1 (and coming off of his first loss). They weren’t on the world stage. It was the national championship in a nation that, I’m pretty sure, had not to that point ever produced a world challenger or even a contender.

When Kallie was thrust into the role of ‘contender’ in 1977/78 for beating Richard Dunne and Duane Bobick, some people said ‘hey, there’s this other South African guy who beat him, maybe that guy deserves a look.’ Post-Knoetze and pre-Spinks, he was feasting on journeymen like Tom Prater and Randy Stephens, a guy being built but not one considered a up-and-coming force. His biggest win pre-Spinks was over Johnny Boudreaux, who was considered a fringe contender for a minute before losing to Stephens (right before losing to Coetzee).

Gerrie wasn’t on many radars when he was picked to be an expected soft touch for Leon Spinks in 1979 coming off his two fights with Muhammad Ali. It was Coetzee’s first fight outside of South Africa. When he won by KO 1 it was a huge upset and burst him upon the scene.

By spring of 1986, Coetzee was done with the Frank Bruno loss.

Including the bookend fights with Spinks and Bruno, Coetzee went 9-5-1. That includes killing-time wins over the likes of Leroy Caldwell, Fossie Schmidt, Mike Koranicki and George Chaplin, all journeymen of some level or other.

I don’t think Gerrie was part of the scene longer than most of his 1980s contemporaries like Pinklon, Tubbs, Page, Dokes, Witherspoon, Bonecrusher and certainly not Weaver. The Knoetze win makes it look longer in retrospect but that wasn’t a result of any great note at the time, and he didn’t start fighting top guys right after … that came three years later against Leon.

 

Seems you’re kind of making my point. He was being considered as a Joe Frazier comeback opponent and grouped with the Coopmans and Dunns of the world — a soft touch with a good record.

Leon was his first step-up fight. He was 21-0 and had been a pro for four years … that’s not ‘oh well I’m at the end of my rope’ stuff. It’s a typical ascension — he rose to the top of a heavyweight scene in South Africa that hadn’t yet ‘exploded’ as being a breeding ground for heavyweight contenders and was fighting American journeymen to gain experience to make his move.

Now if he loses to Leon, sure, he maybe fades into obscurity but more likely gets a couple more wins on home ground and then gets a shot at another contender with the belief that he’s not a serious threat … and either has a breakthrough or not. Same as basically anyone else who falls short in their first try on the ‘world stage’ against an established contender.

 

Go look at the Knoetze fight. Gerrie was on his bicycle the whole time and I mean pedaling fast. He did not change anyone’s mind beating a 6-1 guy nor did he do so beating Mike Schutte.