Tell me More about Gerrie Coetzee

Haha!

 

And also the Fearsome Alfredo Evangelista.......

 

Botha was a disgrace to South African heavyweight history.

First, what kind of SA heavy wears a goatee instead of flashing a fabulous mustache?

Second, there’s not a Z to be found anywhere in his name.

He should have been stripped of his citizenship if he wasn’t going to respect the country’s traditions.

 

I'm not sure if i agree about him not being in shape at times. This was never a knock on him during his prime. He was actually one of the few in the division that didn't cop flak for it.

As i posted the other day he had endless hand problems, particularly with the right. The operation he had, fusing the bones together and removing padding out of the hand turned him into a frightening right hand puncher overnight. This was to the detriment of his once good boxing skills and two handedness. There were plenty of claims Coetzee lacked confidence. After his second unsuccessful title challenge these claims gained a bit more momentum. It did rain just before he and Tate fought and Coetzee had a fair bit of trouble with the slippery canvas. Weaver simply outlasted him. There were some knocks on his stamina too.

He teamed up with Jackie McCoy who actually had him rediscover his previously versatile left hand and pole axe Dokes. Dokes of course had been on a cocaine bender 48hrs prior to the fight but that's not Gerries problem. He was bested by an in shape (fitness wise if not weight) Greg Page in a spitefall affair ending in a debilitating KO and he didn't have much left after that.

With hindsight his draw with Pinklon Thomas, tho a bit of a surprise at the time, was actually a top notch performance by Gerrie. Thomas had entered a very hot period and was right up near the top of the heavyweight tree. A draw was actually commendable. Thomas started slow then finished over the top of Gerrie in the last three rounds. Both men thought they nipped it but were quite happy with the draw which is also commendable.

Coetzee was a good man. I might even call him a great man. He spoke out against apartheid and refused the great white hope label.

Rather than labor with my own descriptions here's a great excerpt from NYT -

In that era, white South Africans could still be described by The Washington Post as a “beleaguered minority” for whom Coetzee’s attempts at boxing glory represented “a chance at a national vindication.”

Instead, Coetzee’s fame worked against apartheid. His 1979 bid for the title brought the first racially integrated crowd — 81,000 people — to Loftus Versfeld Stadium, in Pretoria.


When The New York Times canvassed people in the Black township of Soweto for their views of the fight — which pitted John Tate, an African American, against an Afrikaner — even supporters of Tate frequently praised Coetzee.

“Coetzee is a better fighter and a more principled man,” one schoolboy told The Times. “Tate is just here to collect a purse.” In contrast, he continued, “Coetzee will use the title to speak out against apartheid.”

Coetzee did exactly that at a news conference before the fight. “What really makes me happy is for Black, brown and white people to accept me as their fighter,” he said, adding, “People should be treated on merit and not on race or color.”

International sporting contests generally barred South African athletes, making Coetzee one of the nation’s few worldwide athletic stars. Both white and Black South Africans crowded around radios in the middle of the night to hear broadcasts of his fights abroad. One listener, an amateur boxer looking for distraction during an imprisonment of 27 years, was Nelson Mandela.

He sent Coetzee a letter of encouragement before the Dokes fight, and Coetzee replied by sending a videotape of his victory, Mr. Strydom said. For a photo shoot during one of several meetings, the two men faced each other in a boxing stance and smiled.

 

I think Coetzee was a very principled and decent man. A good but not great boxer with a cracking right hand that could bring instant excitement even when he was often kind of boring outside of that.

@ikrasevic brought up Larry Holmes never fighting Coetzee, but they signed twice to fight each other. The money fell through both times. They even agreed to reduced purses to try to make it happen after the first contracted bout fell apart but it wasn’t to be — they weren’t going to fight each other for free.

Gerrie also had a great mustache, as is becoming of a real South African heavyweight.

 

True on all counts.

 

I mentioned the case that in 6 1/2 years the WBA title "walked" John Tate-Mike Weaver-Michael Dokes-Gerrie Coetzee-Greg Page-Tony Tubbs-Tim Witherspoon-James Smith-Mike Tyson through 9 champions (since the end of '79 . until the beginning of '87.), but specifically that there was no fight Larry Holmes Vs. Gerry Coetzee.

 

I've heard that he was white.

 

Wow that was soothing to read for sure it made me feel good. In these times in the USA when we are so divided by politics, we need people like him and like Alex Rosen, a very right wing supporter who has spoken out against racial and LGBTQ hate on his podcasts. (and he does it sporting a Lets Go Brandon t shirt!)

Also, Coetzee got robbed against Renaldo Snipes. At the time the WBC did not have South Africans on their ranking and Snipes next got a title shot against Larry Holmes. Political cr.....p hurt him too.

 

Good to hear. Coetzee did indeed get robbed vs Snipes, it one Highway robbery of the Year in one prominent mag.

 

You just explained why it never happened.

When one fighter is the established champion, as Holmes clearly was, and a bunch of other guys pass it around like a hot potato, there is no hue and cry for a unification. Champions, on both sides, expect to be paid more for a unification than for a routine defense. That’s reality. And there isn’t any extra money when the public doesn’t know who the ‘other’ champ is.

You also have to factor Don King and Bob Arum into the equation. They weren’t going to work together if it didn’t make a ton of money — they could do it for Leonard-Duran but not for a few pennies … because one of them (likely Arum by the odds) was going to lose a foothold on claiming to promote a heavyweight champion, which has potential value if any of those guys had ever actually held onto the title long enough for anyone to realize they had a belt.

But wait, there’s more: When Don King controlled both Larry and the ‘other’ champ, King didn’t want to unify because (a) there wasn’t really any money in it since the ‘other champ’ was a revolving door of guys nobody would pay to see, (b) he wanted to make sure he had the ‘other side’ in his back pocket in case Larry walked, and (c) when Larry actually did walk, he wasn’t going to do business with King to unify or anything else … he had a lawsuit against King and couldn’t also contract with him on the side and walk into court and say ‘this man cheated me’ while also continuing to do business with him.

By many accounts, the idea of a Holmes-Tate fight was going to happen had Tate gotten past Weaver (a guy Larry already beat in a fight that was so in demand that no network would pay for it and HBO got it for $100K, which King losing his ass and Larry fighting basically for free … so yeah, that would make a promoter want to promote a rematch, lol).

Larry did sign to fight Coetzee not once but twice in unifications, but the money wasn’t there.

Why pick on Larry? Why didn’t Tucker or Trevor or Bonecrusher fight each other to unify before Tyson even came along? Never hear anyone mention that. For that matter, I don’t recall those Lost Generation talents ever making an offer to Holmes to unify … why not?

 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Pinklon Thomas wishes Larry Holmes would just go away.

Thomas, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, calls Holmes, who holds the International Boxing Federation version of the crown, a fraud.

'He should retire or face me,' said Thomas this week during training for the first defense of the crown he captured from Tim Witherspoon last Aug. 31.

Thomas, 25-0-1 with 20 knockouts, meets former World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Mike Weaver Saturday.

'He's (Holmes) got to quit making excuses to keep from fighting. He's not the real champion. He's a fraud.'

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/0...olmes-would-just-go-awayThomas/8397487483200/

 

Nothing to add really, as I think all bases have been covered.
I have the fight programme of him and Weaver, and a bust of his famous right hand, which he personally addressed to me.

 

Thanks for such a detailed explanation. I'm not that knowledgeable about boxing, let alone boxing management. And I was wrong. There were not 9 champions in 6 and a half years, but 9 champions in 7 and a half years.