Hello. In 1992, Coetzer was the WBA/IBF n°1 contender before losing his WBA spot to Bowe in an eliminator in July. But somehow, in october of 1992, he fought the recently comebacking Frank Bruno for what was deemed as an IBF eliminator by the introducer. I wonder why was this fight considered as an IBF eliminator ? I can see why Coetzer was still highly regarded, but Bruno had only stopped two opponents since his comeback, a Dutch champion and the declining Ribalta. Also I wonder why the result had no consequences for a future title fight. Thanks.
Pierrre no. 1 because of S.A. influence in WBA. Bruno also connec#ed nei$her should have been ranked so high in 1992
Coetzer never did anything to get his eliminator shots. Beating Kimmuel Odom and Wimpy Halstead hardly suffices for such a position. He was underpowered and predictable. That said, I thought he exposed Bowe a bit, giving him all he could handle until Riddick was allowed to lowblow Pierre into submission.
For what it's worth, he also beat Johnny DuPlooy and Ossie Ocasio. Yes he lacked power but he had tremendous courage and chin.
Similar to the IBF eliminator of 1987 between Douglas and Tucker. Neither of them deserved to be there
Coetzer had a magnificent mustache, which any sanctioning body would find difficult to ignore. Bruno had lots of British pounds behind him. That adds up to an eliminator in my book.
Lol, but I wonder why a subsequent fight for the title was never enforced. I never read report of the IBF pressing Holyfield (or Bowe when he won the title) to defend against Bruno. And Bruno himself went later for the WBC title, while ranked n°5 by this organization. I know that it probably made more sense financially to fight Lewis in England, but his IBF spot was never brought up again. The situation was very odd I think.
A fight can be an eliminator without necessarily being a final eliminator. It just means that the winner takes a step towards a title shot, it doesn't guarantee that he'll be next in line. Going into this fight, Coetzer was ranked 5th by the IBF and Bruno 8th. The win boosted Bruno to 4th, but that still left Foreman, Lewis and Holyfield all ahead of him in the queue.
Yes, it's wasn't presented as a final eliminator so your words make sense. Can you tell me where do you got these rankings ? It's very interesting, and thank you very much for your answer.
The ratings for the various alphabet organisations and also for Ring magazine were quite often printed in the press. Since I'm often nose-deep in newspaper archives anyway, I'm making a kind of ongoing personal project of collecting as many as I can find. https://ibb.co/16j1wFs https://ibb.co/pyM9xtj
That's great, thank you again. And good luck for your project, I would have done the same if I could. I really like to know the ratings during the 80's/90's, but sometimes they were not announced before the fights (like in this one). Just for curiosity, do you have Michael Grant's WBC rating before the Lewis fight ?
Pierre Coetzer was promoted by Cedric Kushner, who admitted under oath he paid bribes to IBF President Bob Lee to get his fighters higher ratings. From July 1992 to January 1993 (roughly six months) Coetzer essentially received three elimaintion fights in a row. Pierre fought Riddick Bowe in a WBA final eliminator in July (and was stopped), faced Bruno in an IBF eliminator in October (and was stopped), and then fought IBF #1 contender George Foreman in January (and was stopped yet again).
He was ranked #2 behind John Ruiz. Seems a bit generous based on his results, but then again no one else really stands out as a stronger candidate. https://ibb.co/NF9zQYP