Gerrie Coetzee... underrated?

Coetzee had a solid chin and a very hard right hand. The negatives on him were he had a one dimensional style and Vic Toweel did a great job with him but it was not until Jackie McCoy took over did he learn a few more aspects of the ring and a left hook.

He was robbed by King in an elimination fight with Renaldo Snipes (he dropped Snipes 2 times) and he lost the shot at Holmes, funny thing was Snipes (who was not known as a puncher) dropped Holmes. I always wondered had that have been Coetzee with his bionic right hand what the results would have been.

Holmes was a better fighter by far but Coeztee may have been a serious stylistic problem. His fight vs Dokes was his best fight IMO

 

How funny. I'm making a tribute of him right now. There's quite a few fights of him on youtube. I like his style, he always comes to fight, and he's got a lot of power in his right hand.
I think he would beat Wladimir today, and certainly give Vitali a run for his money. I would like to see Coetzee vs Vitali. That would be a war.

 

Snipes couldn't punch? Say what? :huh

 

He broke his hands like tater chips. Jackie McCoy told me he went into the Page fight with a broken hand. Hard to belive but it was spoken from the horses mouth.

 

Very good fighter.

Bad luck and mental problems are what hampered him. Awesome power, solid skills, good durability. Would of given Holmes a very interesting fight imo, he was certainly a step up from Gerry Cooney.

 

I think he's way better then Cooney because he actually held a belt and he could take a punch. And he definitely beat better opposition.

 

Other than the Holmes Knock Down what KO's did Snipes have that were significant or over a top contender. He got to fight Coetzee with a SD over former light heavy Eddie Gregory/Mustafa Muhammad and drew with Scott Frank. He beat Berbick by decision.

Snipes was a strong boy but not known as a puncher. Snipes was dropped 2 times by Coetzee but never had Gerrie in any trouble.

In fact other than the Holmes fight who did he even Knock Down

 

Trevor Berbick. Twice.

Berbick was stopped twice in his career.

Once, while green, against the massive punching Bernardo Mercado. Berbick was caught cold in the first round, by a punch a seasoned referee claimed was the hardest he had ever seen.

Secondly, he was stopped by Tyson in one of a prime Tyson's finest fights.

Berbick fought until he was nearly 50 years old and was never stopped again, none the less floored.

Good enough? He nearly had as much an impact on Berbick as anyone ever did, including a prime Tyson.

Snipes had a atomic right hand.

 

Anyone else think that Coetzee won the Thomas and the snipes fights?

 

Berbick went down pretty hard vs Mercado and Tyson and I hate to say it but do not put him up there as a granite chin candidate.


Snipes never had a KO over a top 20 opponent, he was a strong man and was not featherfisted but I would not classify him as having an atomic right hand. He dropped Holmes hard but never KO'd a quality fighter and it was clear in his fight with Coetzee who hit harder.

 

Only getting knocked out by a prime Tyson and by Bernardo Mercado while green is nothing to hold your head about.

The guy went the distance with guys like Rahman while he was little more than a punching bag.

 

Equation to getting high acclaim on this forum:

A= Estimation of this Forum
X= Mediocre Career
Y= Duration Since Last Fight

A = X*Y4

 

He was a step up from Cooney. 1) He had better proven Stamina (2) Had held his power in the right hand(Holmes weak area) (3) He had more confidence in himself than Gerrie (4) He had quick release of the right hand (5) Durability was much better than Cooney

 

It's a shame that Holmes never fought him. It's the reason I bumped Holmes out of my top 5 actually, not fighting Coatzee, Dokes, Page, Thomas and then not rematching Weaver and Witherspoon (after fighting green versions of both) is laughable.