Leon Spink's loss to Gerrie Coetzee

I remember this fight...I was watching a Sugar Ray Leonard bout that same day when Howard Cosell made a remark about "the spectacle of Leon Spinks...knocked out in one round today by Gerrie Coetzee."

I was stunned by Cosell's statement, as I never expected Spinks to be blown away in one round by the underdog Coetzee.

Anyway, I agree that Spinks was way off mentally that day, and that he fought the wrong fight against Coetzee. Spinks literally walked into that first big right hand that hurt him and set him up for the kill.

Still, I don't think Leon could have beaten Coetzee under any circumstances. The truth about Spinks is that he simply lacked the durability, physical size, and boxing ability necessary to hang in there with big, powerful heavyweights who were reasonably talented.

 

There were still a lot of doubts about Spinks at that point in time. Nobody thought he'd match up very well with Holmes or even Tate. You had some rising pedigree with Cooney/Dokes/Page. On the outside of that, you had a few guys you'd heard of with potential like Witherspoon and Thomas and Cobb. Coetzee and Knoetze were known as the biggest hitters of that bunch that were young. Their bouts just weren't televised internationally.

But it was clear that Leon was going to have to face some real good fighters and he'd already showed some flaws against Righetti and Ledoux, if you bother to look past the Ali bouts. And very little experience and everything was a tough bout. They certainly weren't going to have Spinks travel to South Africa for the fight but he did have to travel and take his act on the road to a nuetral site.

I sure didn't think Leon had a style very well suited against punchers because he's always there to be hit. Coetzee was a big hitter and it was a great bout to gamble on. A big loss by Spinks and it took a long time for him to overcome it & probably never did. So to some folks it was a surpise and to some it was not.

 

Coetzee was not a bad fighter. His fights were always exciting. I remember him having stamina issues in the later rounds which was his undoing. Guy could fight.

 

Leon Spinks had that "Joe Frazier mentality" where he fought as if he could wear everyone down, and outwork them. He never really refined the style though, and left himself open. Spinks was very good though, for a novice. But you cant make those mistakes at heavyweight with men like Coetzee around.

 

Coetzee said in an interview that early in his career he was intimidated by black American fighters,but overcame it.By the time he fought Dokes, he had polished his stiff upright European style a bit, and developed a left hook to complement his powerful right cross.

 

Both of these guys are underachievers.

Gerrie had such a nice right hand, his Bionic right hand is ATG quality. If his confidence was higher he could of been the best of the 80's alpha titlists and give Holmes a run for his money.

 

Coetzee was a trifle too predictable and upright I think, his chin was often on show, he never looked very fluid ,even when his rough edges were smoothed over somewhat
.Spinks for his amount of fights looked much more the natural fighter ,but he didnt have Coetzee's equalizer,that bionic right hand.

 

Leon Spinks was a pure warrior, plenty of heart but he just didnt have his brother's dicipline and mindset outside (and inside) of the ring.

This was a great win for one of my favourite fighters ever - Gerrie Coetzee, but I felt after that fight Coetzee relied too much on his right to end fights instead of his boxing skills. He relied too much on his power which cost him his fights against Tate and Mike Weaver as both men were able to take his agression early on...than beat him during the later stages of the fight.

 

Yeah, that's fair comment. Coetzee never really lost that wooden style he had. But it's funny you know, watching this fight, just how styles have changed from then 'til now, as far as heavyweights go.
Coetzee was not known for lots of movement, but compared to a lot of todays guys, he looks positively fleet-footed.

I still think without the hand issues and with better coaching, he could have done better than he ultimately did. Oh, and if he had more condifence in himself. He had some good skills.

 

It would have been exciting to see Holmes box the shorts off of Coetzee and knock him out in the later rounds. I was really hoping for this fight even though I knew the conclusion was foregone.

 

Had he only had better coaching (usa) from a young age!

In mid career Gerry re-lowed to So Cal to work with Jacky McCoy and showed marked improvement.

No getting around those bad hands as he broke them allot.

 

Gerrie was actually talking **** to Spink's in the ring, you can see him talking to Leon if you look closely.

Really must have psyched him out too.