Who was the better South African Heavyweight, Gerrie Coatzee or Frans Botha?

corrie sanders

 

I like Gerrie Coetzee by knockout. But if these 2 had to face Corrie Sanders, Sanders takes them both in 1-2 rounds! Corrie was way too much for them to handle.

 

Botha, by far, was the most beatable of the group. And that's also the reason he was provided more top 10 opportunities than the other guys--because he was so beatable & the other guy can come out with the win. If you had a top notch fighter, all you needed to do was get them in good condition & Botha becomes an excellent opponent.

Sanders and Coetzee both had A+ results in big bouts outside of South Afriica with the Klitschko & Spinks scalps. Botha never had that A+ result against top competiton.

 

Coetzee beats the Buffalo ... Sanders was a huge under achiever ... he could have been a near great but really did not love the game ... never fully dedicated himself ... a waste ...

 

Coetzee, i'd say. His right hand was really powerful and during a period of time, he was a legitimate challenger to Holmes' world title. Botha, on the other, was a hard-working, decent all-round contender, but not really a big threat and lost most of the times he fought a top level fighter. He did draw with Briggs if memory serves me right.

Contrary to Coetzee, he did get his title shot against Lennox Lewis, but was blown out in spectacular fashion, two rounds. He was on the end of two of the best knockouts of the 90's against two of the best heavyweights, which will probably see to it that he is longer remembered than Coetzee. The one thing Francois had over Gerrie was management, a very important factor.

 

I'd go with Coetzee, a more dangerous fighter.

Botha was durable and crafty, and fought with a lot of heart, but wasn't offensively in the same class.

Corrie Sanders, of course, beats them both at the same time with one flick of his muscular eyebrow.

 

I would have to agree, Coetzee had poor management and when he finally got Jackie McCoy as a trainer, it was like teaching an old dog new tricks, still Gerrie had a powerfull right hand and had an impressive 1 rd blowout over Leon Spinks and Michael Dokes and was robbed vs Renaldo Snipes when he had Snipes down 2 times in their fight and Snipes got the Nod...Coetzee had nothing to do with the politics of his country but was penilized because of it. Sanders was also avoided but did not always show the best motorvation. Funny but the Whites were a minority in Africa but yet dominated Heavyweight boxing there

 

I always though Botha was North African? aint he maruitaus

 

coetzee. he had beaten many world class fighters where as botha scraped passed at that level.
coetzee had more tools than botha and used them well.... also he had a upset ranking. his ko of spinks was a big surprise to some. he has much more than just a right hand that his name conjures up
(somone has uploaded his back catalogue on youtube)





but respect to botha. ive got to say im always always impressed how far he got with just a right hand and a slight jab.

his tactics against tyson were superb. stay away on the outside with a jab, when he comes in throw a right uppercut and clinch. when you break up bop aroudn the ring and taunt him with a light jab and repeat.


an overachiever but a good overachiever

 

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Coetzee at his best would be far too much for either Botha or Sanders, indeed I would place the hard working Pierre Coetzer above Sanders and Botha.

I never saw what people see in Sanders, if you want a South Africa Heavyweight engima, then I would put foward Jimmy Abbott.

 

Excellent point.

Botha, pardon the pun, punched above his weight. He was marginally talented but nobody here expected much from him. Where he was smart was that he moved to the States early in his career and benefitted from better training, better sparring and got exposure.

Had Coetzee gone to the States much earlier in his career, he could have achieved more. Same with Sanders really. Instead, both Coetzee and Sanders chose to remain big fish in a small pond, and did not make the most of their raw ability.

Honestly, I'd also put Pierre Coetzer and maybe Johnny Du Plooy over Botha as well. Both had their limitations, but for one Coetzer was a tough son of a ***** who showed up in superb shape for his fights (which goes against the grain when discussing SA heavyweights normally) and Du Plooy had flair and a good punch.

 

The reason is that that blacks here just aren't big. The average black guy in this country are slightly smaller than the average westerner, unlike say the Nigerians who produce large, strong black fighters.
On the contrary, the whites, particularly those of Dutch heritage, are above average in size.
The Afrikaaners are quite large on average, and it's not uncommon to see an Afrikaaner over six feet and 220 lbs.