Leon Spink's loss to Gerrie Coetzee

But Coetzee was not well known or highly regarded in the US prior to fighting Spinks, and heading into that fight, his rep was more of a quick and cagey boxer rather than a one-shot KO artist. Also, he was reputed to have gotten a hotly disputed decision over Randy Stephens shortly before, who had since been bombed out by Ken Norton. Spinks was a heavy favorite over Coetzee.

 

:deal Beat me to it.

Yep, Coetzee was one of a number of fighters around that time who was given the "next Ali" tag.

 

I feel Spinks was one of several capable '70s era HWs (along with Ossie Ocasio, Randy Stephens, and Jose Luis Garcia) who suffered from being natural CWs at a time when the division was transitioning into the larger, "superHW" phase that continued through the '80s and into today. The average size of HWs seemed to explode during the '70s. Only a decade, a fighter weighing around 210-215 pounds was considered a "big" HW (ie: Liston, Nino Valdes); but by the end of the '70s, that was considered small for a HW.

IMO, if Spinks had come around the decade before (when the average size of HWs was mush smaller) or the decade after (when the CW division existed) he may have had more overall success and longevity as a world class fighter. But as is, I'd say he came around at the worst possible time he could've.

 

Evangelista and Mercado, two fo his biggest wins, came after he was crushed by Coetzee ... aside from Ali at the time of the Coetzee fight his claim to fame was a draw with LeDoux ... Leon was fast and well conditioned, he had a huge heart and threw ton of shots but he was wide open and did not take a great punch ... this is why Ali begged for an immediate rematch rather than Leon first defend against Norton ... Ali knew Norton would have crushed Spinks like Coetzee did and Ali would never had regained the title ...

 

He was no heavy favorite by those in the know at the time ... he was highly regarded in South Africa and he always had a big punch ... he had suffered from hand issues ... regardless, he was far more experienced than Spinks ... Leon suffered from the Pete R. scenario .... after such a big fight so early do you rebuild or simply go for the money ? KNowing how wild Leon was his management went for the money , plain and simple ... after onky eight fights he did not belong mixing with much bugger and more experienced fighters ... the combination of elements resulted in a destroyed career ...

 

Coetzee was a pretty good fighter who was hindered by asthma, according to what i read someplace. This of course would cause him to run out of stamina and become fatigued well before the final round of a fight.

So regardless of how talented a fighter may be, there's a saying about fatigue, that it makes cowards of all fighters.