Gerrie Coetzee... underrated?

Two high profile knockdown punches does not a slugger make.

Russ, you had to have seen Renaldo at the time he took on Cummings, Mustafa Muhammad and Coetzee. He was strictly an ineffectual punching, defense oriented mover. (To me, he always looked like he was trying to ward off a swarm of flies from his blinking eyes with his hands.)

As powerfully built a full sized heavyweight as Snipes was, LHW Eddie did not take a backwards step against him. There was nothing in those three matches, absolutely nothing to suggest he was capable of the kind of punch he floored Holmes with. (Lennox would have certainly taken him for granted as an easy win, and been bombed down for the count with that shot.) When he was robbed against Witherspoon, he reverted to continual head movement on the outside, and volume hustle on the inside, landing many more punches than Tim, especially to the body, but without any force behind them. Decking Berbick was a good coup to open their match with, but the right hand Snipes used then was nothing like the punch of a lifetime Holmes had to recover from.

Even so, Renaldo's fights produced weird, surreal and entertaining moments, from getting bitten on the shoulder in the clinches by Cummings (no doubt Jumbo was a hero of Tyson's), to twisting an ankle on a ringside camera while circling the periphery against Mustafa Muhammad, to the surprise knockdown and post fight interview histrionics with Holmes, to Camacho and friend loudly heckling, "Yo, Adriaaan!" from the audience during Page.

He didn't have the power to save himself from Biggs or Evangelista. His strengths were conditioning, constant defensive head and hand movement, and lateral mobility, not punching power. Among the other challengers of Holmes, Snipes most resembled Ocasio stylistically.

 

In my post I stated Snipes was not known as a puncher. He had a dramatic KD of Holmes but never KO'd a top 20 contender and that's a fact.

As far as Berbick, I did not say he had a glass jaw but I would also not say he took Tyson's power as well as Tony Tucker, Mitch Green, or James Tillis or Razor Ridduck.

I don't want my statement taken out of context

When Berbick fought Rahman it was Rahmans first test in 17 fights but O'bed Sullivan, Jesse Ferguson and Al Cole also went 10 against Rahman at that time and the Glass-Jawed Maskaev took Rahmans best and stopped him.

I did not say Berbick had a glass jaw or that Snipes could not punch but I think we would refer to Coetzee as a puncher because he had KO's over top contenders Leon Spinks and Michael Dokes

Shavers was a known puncher, Snipes could hit but not a known puncher (who did he KO). Coetzee was considered a known puncher with that Bionic right had and he did have Snipes down 2 times in their fight

 

:goodvery true....I liked Reynaldo he was a great guy but this is true

 

Because Berbick had no fear of Tyson and went toe to toe with him which is crazy, unlike Tucker, Green, and Tillis who merely hung on for dear life.

The Tyson that fought Berbick would of had Ruddock out of there in about the same amount of time it took for him to blast Trevor out.

 

I don't know where I implied Snipes was a Shavers level monster.

I feel he was a above average puncher, especially when he landed that right hand flush.

I also feel he was very motivated against Holmes, and in doing so showed that he could, indeed, punch.

 

I have been criticized for stating those facts but a lot of the Holmes fans are revisionists. Holmes was my favorite fighter of the division in that era but his fans overlook these facts.

When it comes to Boxing IMO you have to fight the best. Holmes was the best experienced fighter of that time and he showed it against the greenest bunch of contenders, a few with 10 fights, 12 fights,13 fights, and 15 fights. I like Holmes but I cant put him in my top 5 because he did fight the best of his day.

 

true but Berbick was blasted out by Mike Tyson and Mercado (who Leon Spinks beat)(Coetzee took Spinks out in 1) what other punchers did Berbick survive that would make us believe he had a Chuvalo like jaw

 

Philip Coetzee was a negaholic jerk, whose characteristic pessimism gutted his son's self confidence, and everybody knew that during Gerrie's prime. (It's kind of hard to ignore when Dad's telling the press things like, "Gerrie only has a 40 per cent chance to win this next fight.") Watching his draw with Pinklon Thomas, you could see the radical difference in self confidence between the two. Gerrie was tentative while Pinko demonstrated full assurance.

What Gerrie really needed was Norton's hypnotist to wash out all the toxins bad seed father Philip had planted between his ears. (Negative shithead parents suck ass!) It's a miracle that he lifted the WBA Title from Dokes. With an optimistic subconscious, he might have achieved a great deal more.

He did set himself apart from Cooney by taking greater risks, recovering from defeat after defeat to get that all important third title shot, and out boxing competent stylists like Chaplin and Tillis. He idolized Ali, and tried to emulate Muhammad's mobility and defensive elusiveness. Ultimately, he was known for his bionic right, but his stylistic aspirations did lead to developing a certain versatility and level of skill. As Ingo did with Patterson, Gerrie used his jab to surprise and screw up Dokes. (Cooney ought to have done the same thing with his right against Holmes, as Gerry did in initially stunning Norton and tearing Young's face open, and Frazier did in the Quarry rematch.)

 

Funny.

But you're wrong to imply Coetzee had a "mediocre career".
Anyone who can genuinely claim to have been among the top 5 heavyweights in the world for a few years in their life, can boast of having a pretty good career as a pro boxer.

I'll admit I dont personally know many people, if any, who can boast of being among the world's top 5 in any professional endeavour.

 

It's not Chuvalo like but only a very, very small handful of fighters in the 100 plus years of gloved boxing are close to Chuvalo in terms of durability. Berbick was a very durable hombre, if you have to have a Chuvalo like jaw to be regarded as that than there's very few durable fighters in history.

He went 15 with Holmes which is no easy task, went the distance with Douglas, among others. And his run in the 90's without ever being put down is testament to possessing a good jaw.

 

The Coetzee vs Thomas fight was rightfully ruled a draw so it was a fair result. But if the fight was a 12 rounder, the fight would of probably been awarded to Thomas seeing as Thomas was really comming on strong in rounds 8,9 and 10.

And Coetzee definetly won the Snipes fight.

 

Coetzee was a good over all talent. Good size, good power, good, but not great skills. Coetzee's long term stamina was a bit iffy. Here's a good question.

If he fought in the 12 round era, does he win the Weaver and Tate matches?

If Coetzee were around today, I think he would be anywhere from 3rd to 5th best.

 

Agree Coetzee was underrated. He was actually one of the better HWs of the early 80s, after Holmes, of course, and then Mike Weaver, imo. I was ecstatic when he destroyed the overrated Dokes, who basically got two gifts over Weaver.

 

No, he was not mediocre in an objective sense, only in the context of heavyweight champions. I respect Coetzee a lot and think he got shafted a bit against Snipes and, who was it that KO'd him in the 4th minute? Was that against Weaver? I forget. Anyways, that and not getting a shot at Holmes.

No, I wish I could succeed in my vocation to the degree that Coetzee did...