Gerrie Coetzee

I thought he was good. Big and tough with a good punch. Very strong. Beating Leon Spinks was the pinnacle signature win of his career. He should have got a shot at the real champion Larry Holmes out of that. What a huge win that was.

He stood out at the time as a puncher when there was a lot of Ali clones around. He didn't have that smooth rhythm or try to emulate slick moves but he got the job done and nobody was going to stand in front of him. Regardless of his colour he was something different as a fighter, brought a bit of difference stylewise to heavyweight boxing. And a Burt Reynolds tash.

But I think the pressure got to him. Like Bruno and C00ney he carried a lot of people's hopes and the responsibility weighed heavy on his shoulders. He was under attack a lot due to the whole South Africa thing but back home he was huge. The open air fights he had with Tate and Page had big stadium crowds.

 

Yup, still wish that he'd fought Holmes. Lots of people felt that Holmes was susceptible to a good right hand, and Gerrie had one of the best.

 

I still think Coetzee was the best of the South African heavies. Some may say Sanders (who did pull off the bigger win) but Coetzee was more consistent and he was a rated contender for longer. He also fought more rated fighters than Sanders.

Two things that always stood against him were of course his hand troubles and the fact that he had asthma which limited his stamina.
I think his career took off when he decided (wisely) to ply his trade in the States. He was wasting his talent back home and it was only when he went Stateside that he started to really progress as a fighter.
I wish Sanders had done likewise.

One of my favourite possessions is a bust of his 'bionic' right hand, with a hand-written plaque from Gerrie to me.

I look at it sometimes and think of the damage that big fist did.

 

I think Coetzee's win over Dokes was just as big, or bigger, than Sanders' win against Klitschko.

 

No it was not.

 

Never liked him. One or perhaps two trick pony.

 

Yeah, it was for the WBA title when there were only two belts. Dokes was highly touted, undefeated, possible heir to Holmes.

 

Sanders was more of an underdog and beat the better fighter in ( Wlad ). This is why I say Coetzee's win was not as great.

In terms of great upsets in the division history Sanders over W. Klitschko is likely in the top 5.

Schmeling vs. Louis
Braddock vs. Baer ( Sometimes I wonder if Baer tanked it )
Douglas vs. Tyson.
Sanders Vs. Wlad.

 

Big right hand puncher. Limited Stamina. Coetzee would be better off in the 12 round era. He had Weaver beat in 12 rounds, ( then got KO'd in the 13th ) and if memory serves faded a bit in a points loss to Tate.

Politics held him back a little

 

I think McCall's win over Lewis was bigger and possibly Brewster's win over Wlad given the presence of Manny Steward in Wlad's corner. How about Ali over Foreman or Spinks over Ali. There are actually quite a few we can think of.

 

Yes it was. You could say McCall over Lewis is a top 10 heavyweight upset. I think it lost some luster though, as Rhaman won the same way ( right hand and rather early ).

At the time Sanders over Wlad was a huge upset. Also a top ten heavyweight upset.

 

Top 10 yes. Top 5 is debatable. Wlad had already been proven vulnerable just a couple years earlier against Purity and Sanders for all his shortcomings was a known dangerous puncher.

 

He was always one of my favorites as a kid.

At the time, Coetzee was a favorite to medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, but South Africa was barred from competing because of apartheid. Hand injuries wrecked much of his early pro career. The WBC wouldn't rate him because of hte country he came from. Fellow South African heavyweights like Knoetze and Mike Schutte were usually rated above him by the WBA (and Schutte was often mentioned as being in the running for title shots against Ali in the late 70s), but Gerrie was better than both. His war with Schutte the first time got them both suspended because of its brutality and flagrant fouling. Coetzee didn't care for Schutte or Knoetze. While Knoetze and Schutte were pals, Coetzee marched to his own drummer.

Knoetze, a cop, shot a black teenager who, with his classmates, had been protesting because the students wanted English as the national language - so they could better fit in with other free nations -- and not Afrikaans, which was a Dutch-based language preferred by the white establishment in South Africa.

When the teen Kallie shot laid on the ground bleeding out asked for water, Knoetze told him to "drink your own blood." Knoetze was later charged with the shooting (which was rare at the time) and with trying to intimidate other police who agreed to testify against him. But, during his trial before a judge, Kallie just got a slap on the wrist. Kallie also became a popular actor in the country, while Coetzee practiced dentistry when he wasn't boxing.

Gerrie was never an apartheid supporter. He spoke English - Knoetze did not. Beating Spinks (the 76 Olympic gold medalist and former heavyweight champ) was the biggest fight for him because he wanted to prove he could've won in '72 if given a chance and he was better than the odd***** from his country who were consistently rated ahead of him.

While nearly all black South Africans rooted against Knoetze when he faced Tate, nearly all black South Africans rooted for Coetzee against Tate. National black organizations from South African even printed letters in newspapers and in boxing magazines expressing how proud they'd be to have him become the first heavyweight champion from their country.

Like someone mentioned, I think the pressure just got to him fighting in front of 80,000 people with his entire nation pulling for him. I think he'd have beaten Tate nine times out of 10. He just choked that night.

For years, Holmes refused to fight him because he was from South Africa.

After Coetzee knocked out Dokes for the WBA title, Holmes changed his tune. Still, the WBC tried to block a unification with Holmes. So Holmes dumped the WBC belt (picked up the IBF strap) and he and Coetzee agreed to fight multiple times, but the money always seemed to fall through at the last minute and the fight kept getting cancelled.

Then Page knocked out Coetzee in the eighth round - a round that lasted nearly four minutes. The result should've been changed to a no contest, or at least Coetzee should've received an immediate rematch, but people were glad to be rid of the South African problem.

I always felt he never got the breaks.

But he's a guy I always rooted for.

 

Lovely post.
The pressure also came from the fact that boxing was one if the very, very few sports SA still had international connections with.
The other popular sports like Rugby, football and cricket were dead in the water as far as international participation was concerned.
So there was immense pressure placed on Coetzee when he fought for the title on local shores.
I don't think it's a coincidence that he fought better away from home.

Looking back, I think it was a mistake to defend against the dangerous Page on local soil.
Were I his manager, I would have aimed for a softer touch somewhere in the States. Angelo Dundee felt that Page's style was all wrong for Coetzee and I guess he was proven right.