Larry Holmes failing to take on # 1 contenders

Larry was saying that he'd fight Gerrie in the USA, but like you said didn't going over there because of Apartheid. If Gerrie truly wanted the fight, wouldn't he have agreed to Holmes's terms and fought in the USA?

 

Absolutely, but for some reason, he didn't and fought Mike Weaver instead in South Africa for Weaver's WBA title, and was knocked out in the 13th round. That would have been a decent matchup, but Coetzee never wanted to come to the U.S.

I would like to see some of Coetzee's fights again.

 

Amen. It's hard to blame this on Holmes. Dokes was a King fighter. I don't see the motivation for King (using King's rationale) to eliminate one of his champions. Pairing WBA vs WBC champions back then was nearly impossible. Mustafa Muhammed - Saad Muhammed, Sanchez - Pedroza, Pintor vs Chandler all should've happened. I don't recall any of them being real close to happening. I just don't think you can blame this on Holmes. These Ring rankings are nice to look at, but carried no weight back then. A champion was tied to the rankings for which he was champion.