If he doesn’t get cut, Quarry wins this. I think Gerrie’s chin is enough to withstand whatever Jerry brings, in general Coetzee had stamina issues and wasn’t a high-volume guy if he didn’t get his opponent out of there early. Quarry is an in-your-face guy and a counterpuncher who will set a pace. When you get down to it, apart from shocking a probably-not-prepared Leon Spinks and overcoming a coked-up Dokes, there’s not a ton of meat on the bone of Coetzee’s resume (unless you put a lot of stock in him running like the roadrunner to outpoint a ‘was-he-really-all-that?’ Kallie Knoetze). Quarry tussled with a better grade of fighter than Gerrie and was just a more determined fighter.
I like Quarry’s counterpunching style and savvy to win this but I also wouldn’t count out Coetzee. This would be a very competitive and tough fight in which the crowd would get its money’s worth.
Coetzee had surprisingly light feet. He could move around the ring, kept his weight light, could make for a hard target. But his offense was basic *****, wash, rinse, repeat. Quarry had more variety, higher ring IQ, and enough pop to hurt most heavies. He was definitely more plodding, pressure-oriented, but his punches were more educated. Very close pick but I would favor Quarry. Having those other levels to his offensive game could be the decision maker.
Quarry basically lost every time he stepped it up. Coetzee's best wins in my opinion are better than Quarry's. I agree that Coetzee tended to fight at a measured pace, but it's not like he never faced high volume fighters and beat them. He had very good power and good timing. Add to that the size difference in Coetzee's favour and I think Quarry is rowing upstream here.
Could be a close match, but Coetzee had better heights and was a finely skilled champ, whereas Jerry was a finely skilled gatekeeper. I think Quarry could have done well enough against most of Gerrie's best opponents but I believe he'd do notably lesser so- While on the other hand, I could see the South African beating his best scalps handily.
Good fight. Would like to have seen Coetzee been a lot more accurate with that right hand of his. Always thought the guy had to throw 4 or 5 to land one. Tend to think that factor plays an important factor in this bout. Quarry can survive because Coetzee will get wild and miss the follow up shots. The kinds of punches that get the ref's to stop the bout. Instead, he survives and wins the close rounds to get the narrow decision win. Good bout.
