Duane Bobick vs Gerrie Coetzee

Coetzee was more proven.... I hedge, but Coetzee KO's Bobick brutally....

MR.BILL

 

AND Bobick got knocked the **** out by Norton... That itself says a lot. Chances are, Bobick can't take Coetzee's firepower.
Coetzee KO2 Bobick

 

coetzee drew with pinklon thomas and knocked out micheal dokes and leon spinks. its a stronger resume.

 

Bobick gets slaughtered. Early. Duane really needs those matches against non-punchers he can afford to outmuscle on the inside. On the outside trying to work his way in with that defense and zero head movement is a tightrope act of the highest order.

 

Coetzee would pobably catch Duane in the first ound with the right, hurt him badly and finish him off before the end of the round.

 

Coetzee KO 2. This would be similar to the Stan Ward fight.

 

This is horrid for Duane. A fast starter with a crushing right? Bobick himself might favor Gerrie in one here.

 

Coatzee at his best, like most if not all of the 80's alphabet champs, was a very good fighter.

He's a better fighter than Bobick plus has the stylistic advantage here. KO in under two rounds.

 

Bobick was awful. Coetzie TKO 1

 

awful is a bit harsh. he was a good amatuer. he beat weaver and holmes so the pedagree was there, his pro career just did not pan out. maybe he matured too early for the amatuers but didnt quite make the grade in the pros. hapens to a lot of good fighters. maybe norton just had his number?

 

He also beat Stevenson and Wells (3 times I believe). Duane knew how to block and slip right hands but,,,,,in both the Norton and John Tate bouts he literally froze up and took right hand after right hand without any effort to stop them, it was bizarre to watch as Duanne had the know how to avoid each of those shots. Being hit in the throat in the Norton match could have been a factor, but when the same thing happened with Tate I can only assume Duane couldn't handle and function in a truely big match. Duanne freezes again and gets ko'd straight up.

 

That's an interesting question, as Bobick's career could have unfolded very differently if he'd continued to be carefully matched.

While I wouldn't favor Duane over him, I think he matches rather well with Frazier, another relatively slow starter (although a considerably faster one than Bobick), and one not noted as having the kind of crushing right hand needed to exploit the low left of Bobick. Like Smoke, Duane was really an attrition oriented body punching specialist, somebody who grew more potent and confident as a match wore on. This could have been an entertaining match up, one which I figure Frazier would eventually take on cuts. (By taking on the management of Bobick in early 1975, maybe Joe was onto something in eliminating a potential rival. It was an interesting move for an active top contender preparing for Manila. More likely though, he was thinking about retiring with the title after winning that rubber match, and he and Futch figured on Duane as his successor.)

Ali didn't mind giving away body shots, and he certainly wasn't noted for taking opponents out early. Again, Duane should have a chance to warm up here, but he wouldn't have an answer for Muhammad's right lead, and the Ali of the Dunn fight would have been too much for Bobick to survive against. In 1977 though, he might have been able to take a diminished Ali for the title if he hadn't run into Norton first.

I think he matches up well with Jimmy Young, again because of his body punching orientation and stamina based approach. However, that would need to be won on head shots, and Jimmy would have the edge there. Young-Bobick may have somewhat resembled Norton-Young.

Back then, I thought it would have made more sense for Duane to go after Jimmy than Ken. I didn't know anybody who thought taking on Norton was a good idea, although the way Kenny blew him out was a shock. With Young though, the risk of getting crunched by a devastating cross seemed minimal. Jimmy had established himself as a top contender. A decision loss to Young did not prevent Lyle from getting a shot at Ali, so Young-Bobick could have been a low risk-high rewards situation for Duane as well.

Prior to the Norton-Bobick disaster, a professional rematch between Duane and Holmes would have been no sure thing for the Easton Assassin. Bobick would have had a psychological edge, and Larry remained very much a work in progress until his shocking breakthrough in Shavers I.