Coetzee in round 8 was KO'd by Page and lost his WBA World Heavyweight Championship The round lasted almost 4 minutes. Following the fight the WBA did not take action. What are your opinions? And was this a big controversy at the time?
Greg was incensed by Gerrie calling him a jerk, and simply wasn't going to be denied with that level of motivation firing him up. Page dropped Coetzee after the bell ending round six, legitimately during round seven, and ending round eight with correct timing was only going to delay the inevitable.
You know what, this was a good fight. Posibly one of trhe most under rated heavyweight fights ever. First of all it was a war so neither fighter was the same afterwards. So Neither got the credit. Both gave it their all & Both left it all in the ring. I remember the 4 min round being a big deal at the time, but Holmes was the real man anyway, so dispite this being a competative 50-50 it was down graded below what holmes was doing. shame because this was a war. Having watched it recently I thought coetzee wasnt too hard done by since he got an awful lot of chances at being a champion. even so he gave it his all, I came away thinking the winner wasnt so far ahead of the other guy anyway. What folks dont realise now ( regardles of how good a fight this was) is that during this period nobody but holmes stood out. The alternative belt holders were a conveyer belt of dudes who couldnt string two wins together at that level.
meanwhile Larry was taking it easy on a succession of overmatched stiffs, until Mr. Spinks came along...
overmatched stiffs who were every bit as much a belt holder as page and coetzee! like weaver, berbick, witherspon and james smith. david bey beat page, had that been for a belt he would have had it. marvis frazier beat smith, had that been for a belt.... These guys were stiffs when holmes beat them but not when they held belts i dont get it?
They probably should've let Gerrie get rematch, and unfortunately for him, Greg Page would've taken him again.The WBA messed up big time, and who knows, maybe Don King had something to do with it.
David Bey turned down $1,000,000 to go to South Africa to fight Gerrie Coetzee. David's biggest purse up to that point, $50,000 for his decision win over Greg Page.
Thats right, there was a lot of presure on fighters going to south africa back then. Its ironic that bey took the holmes fight (and lost) over facing coetzee for big cash. Bey v coetzee would have been a good fight. coetzee was usualy in prety watchable fights.
The time-keeper did **** up with his clock, but no excuse, the long-ass round was either a gift or a death wish for BOTH fighters...... Page was lucky to hit paydirt that night in late 1984..... Page had been recently unlucky in prior fights, and obtaining his "Gift" title shot in South Africa was his hail Mary...... Coetzee looked a killer in '83 against Dokes, but he was inactive as of late, since a proposed June '84 mega-fight with Larry Holmes fell through.... Page still won fair and square in my book.... BUT! Page being true to form, sucked balls against Tubbs in 1985...... MR.BILLbbbatsch
Not only that, but I believe the bell had also rang before the count was completed. Yes. The general consensus was that Coetzee at the very least deserved a rematch, and he was basically screwed when he didn't get one.
My opinion is split : the best improvement for boxing will be a 1 round last man standing contest , which i might bare a time limit on. However , if it was not according to the actual rules , then it should have been appealed , reexamined and declared a NC/ND (canceled to an extent)