Gerrie Coetzee

Gerrie Coetzee
Data
Birth Name	Gerhardus Christian Coetzee
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	South African
birthday	April 8, 1955
place of birth	Boksburg
style	Left delivery
size	1.89 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	40
Victories	33
Knockout victories	21st
Defeats	6th
draw	1

Gerrie Coetzee (actually: Gerhardus Christian Coetzee ; born April 8, 1955 in Boksburg , South Africa ) is a former South African heavyweight boxer and WBA world champion.

amateur

His record was 185 wins in seven defeats, three of them against his South African compatriot Kallie Knoetze .

professional

Coetzee turned pro in 1974. In 1979 he was able to beat the former world champion Leon Spinks with a technical knockout in the first round and thus earned a world championship fight. In October of the same year he fought in South Africa for the vacant title according to the WBA version against the black American John Tate , whose trip to South Africa was heavily criticized by civil rights activists. Tate beat him on points.

A year later he fought again for the now held by Mike Weaver WBA belt. He also lost this fight in South Africa, this time due to a technical knockout in the thirteenth round. In the USA he was controversially defeated in 1981 by Renaldo Snipes on points, although he got two knockdowns in the course of the fight.

In 1983 he boxed against the undefeated Pinklon Thomas in a draw in the USA and shortly afterwards received his third title fight. Very surprisingly, he was able to knock out the still undefeated WBA title holder Michael Dokes in the USA on September 23, 1983 and became world champion. In doing so, however, he repeatedly injured his hitting hand, which also thwarted a targeted title union with Larry Holmes .

Just as surprisingly, he lost in December 1984 in his first title defense against the talented but often phlegmatic Greg Page by knockout in South Africa.

After a win in 1985 against the challenger James Tillis , he went to England and was knocked out by Frank Bruno in the first round in 1986, then he ended his career. In 1993 and 1997 he returned to the ring for short-term comebacks. He lost his last professional fight prematurely in June 1997 against Iran Barkley .

Awards

In 2003 Coetzee was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in bronze.

Web links

• Gerrie Coetzee in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of recipients of the medal 2003 (English), accessed on June 20, 2014

predecessor	Office	successor
Michael Dokes	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) September 23, 1983 - December 1, 1984	Greg Page