By Linda Ximba
Loved and Lost: Gerrie Coetzee (1955-2023)
Gerhardus “Gerrie” Coetzee, who passed away in his Western Cape home on Thursday after a brief struggle with cancer, will go down in history as the first South African to win a world heavyweight title.
He had failed twice to clinch the World Boxing Association (WBA) title, first against “Big” John Tate in 1979 and then against Mike Weaver in 1980.
He came back wiser and stronger in his third attempt and stunned the world and the pundits by knocking out Michael Dokes in the 10th round in the US on 23 September 1983.
Dubbed the Boksburg Bomber, Coetzee was one of the outstanding boxers during the era of local heavyweights like Kallie Knoetze and Mike Schutte.
For Coetzee and South Africa, being a WBA champion was a massive achievement considering that at that time, Larry Holmes was a recognised world champion as he held the World Boxing Council crown.
While defending his national title against Schutte, Coetzee shattered bones in both hands. At the end of their gruelling fight, his gloves had to be cut off his swollen hands. The injuries required operations on both hands by a Johannesburg surgeon in April 1977.
Internationally, Coetzee made a mark by clobbering former world champion Leon Spinks in one round to win an eliminator for the WBA crown vacated by Muhammad Ali.
He took on Tate in front of 80,000 spectators at Loftus Versfeld, probably the biggest fight in South African history, but lost on points over 15 rounds.
After a failed attempt to organise a unification fight against Holmes, the lineal champion, Coetzee returned to Sun City to make his defence against Greg Page in December 1984.
But he was controversially stopped in the eighth round. It had gone on longer than the scheduled three minutes because the timekeeper, so engrossed in the action, forgot to ring the bell.
As a consolation, Coetzee was made the number one contender, but he sadly lost against Englishman Frank Bruno in a first-round knockout in 1986. That would be the end of his world title ambitions.
After hanging up his gloves, Coetzee turned to promotion and facilitated many fights in the US for the likes of heavyweight Francois “White Buffalo” Botha. He also briefly promoted former two-weight world boxing champion Dingaan “Rose of Soweto” Thobela.
Pictured above: Gerrie Coetzee in action
Image source: The Mirror
