Did Coetzee throw the Bruno Bout ?

Never heard of such rumor. I doubt is it is true. Coetzee was old and shot when he fought Bruno. Later Coetzee also lost to an old, fat, past it middleweight Iran Barkley.

 

If by "throw" you mean he purposely allowed Bruno to land a bomb, and then he purposely launched himself head-first backwards outside the ring, purposely cut his own cheek where the punch was landed, and he and his brother paid the reporters at ringside to catch him so he wouldn't fall head first to the arena floor ... no.

 

He may not have trained as hard for this one, perhaps even having a few self doubts going in but definitely think it was a legitimate ko, there are easier way s to throw a fight... Seldon no name s mentioned.

 

Why the hell for...he was a washed up name being fed to the rising star. The fight was booked with the intention of showcasing Bruno, no fix necessary.

 

He ate a big shot from a big hitter game over.no fix needed.

 

I don't think so.

Page cracked his chin 1.5 yrs. earlier. Bruno mopped up.

 

I think that people’s recollections are a bit skewed here.

Bruno had already lost to Smith (his only attempt at the late level), and despite Coetzee’s loss to Page, he was seen as having much the better run of form.

Obviously the future was invisible, so many people expected Coetzee to take care of business, and indeed he might even have been complacent.

I am not saying that the fight was fixed, but there would hypothetically have been reason enough to fix it.

 

Well if being laid out cold is a way of fixing a fight then I suppose it was possible.

 

All you have to do is watch slow motion replays of the ko (around the 3:55 mark in the link) to see that it wasn't a fix. He got blasted out of the ring, the back of his head snapped on the bottom rope. It was pretty brutal.

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It is correct that Coetzee wasn't considered shot going in. In fact, it was an eliminator to fight for the WBA heavyweight title. But you figure fighting for the heavyweight title again was going to more lucrative than any bet Coetzee was going to win betting on Bruno in their fight. (Considering Bruno's purse for fighting Spoon for the WBA title was more than one million dollars.)

So how much money could Coetzee and his brother have possibly bet on Bruno to make it financially worthwhile to GIVE UP a million dollar purse and a title shot in his next fight?

 

I don't I've heard anything more ridiculous in my life.

 

Anything is possible in this sport.

 

Yes. The Page loss was a heavy one, he was well and truly out.

 

I don't believe so. Coetzee often blew hot and cold. He'd have made much more money in the long run by smashing Frank up.

As far as I know he's selling dental equipment nowadays, so no sign of the megabucks that he would have made by throwing the fight.

 

I was ringside for that fight,Coetzee did not appear to be in top shape,[he was about 15lbs heavier than for the Page fight], and Bruno was favoured around the ring.
I don't think Coetzee took a dive , he shipped a very hard shot and went down,no argument imo.Had he been prime with maybe a bit more ambition he might have beaten Bruno ,I would have picked him to do so, but he seemed to have gone back a bit.He spoke of retirement immediately after the fight saying he didn't, "want to be a stepping stone".