Gerrie Coetzee Dies: Gerhardus Christian Coetzee was a professional boxer from South Africa. He was born on April 8, 1955, and died on January 12, 2023. He fought from 1974 to 1986, as well as in 1993 and 1997. He was the first African person to ever fight for and win a world heavyweight title.
From 1983 to 1984, he held the WBA title. He beat the WBA world heavyweight champion Michael Dokes and the former unified world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks by knockout. He also fought to a draw with the man who would become the WBC world heavyweight champion, Pinklon Thomas.
One of Coetzee’s nicknames is “The Bionic Hand.” This is because he had problems with his right hand for a long time, and he had to have three surgeries to fix it. Kallie Knoetze, another great South African boxer, called him “Seer Handjies,” which means “Sore Little Hands” in Afrikaans. Coetzee died of cancer on January 12, 2023, when he was 67.
Former World Heavyweight Boxing Champ Gerrie Coetzee Dies!
Gerrie Coetzee died after a short battle with cancer. He was the first person from South Africa to win a version of the world heavyweight title. He was 67. Coetzee tried twice, against John Tate in 1979 and Mike Weaver in 1980, but failed to win the World Boxing Association (WBA) title.
On his third try, in 1983, he knocked out Michael Dokes in the 10th round. Coetzee was known as the “Boksburg Bomber.” He led a golden age of heavyweight boxing in South Africa, including Kallie Knoetze and Mike Schutte. He was the best fighter even as new contenders like Pierre Coetzer and Jimmy Abbott came along.
His broken right hand was fixed with surgery. The local media called it a “bionic hand.” Coetzee became known worldwide when he beat Leon Spinks, a former world champion, in one round to win an eliminator for the WBA title that Muhammad Ali had given up.
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He fought Tate at Loftus Versfeld in front of 80,000 people, which was probably the biggest fight in South African history, but he lost on points after 15 rounds. Weaver beat him in the 13th round at Sun City the following year.
But Coetzee moved to the US and, after drawing with an unbeaten American prospect named Pinklon Thomas, fought his way back into the running. In Richfield, Coetzee’s next fight, he knocked out Dokes. Coetzee returned to Sun City in December 1984 to defend his title against Greg Page.
A giant has fallen. The Boksburg Bomber🥊has succumbed to illness. Almost exactly 40 years after his great triumph – winning the WBA heavyweight championship by 10th-round KO against Mike Dokes – Gerrie Coetzee has died aged 67. One of my boyhood heroes. RIP. pic.twitter.com/XOeyYAlAeR
— Clinton van der Berg (@ClintonV) January 12, 2023
This was after a failed attempt to set up a unification with lineal champion Larry Holmes. But the timekeeper got so caught up in the fight that he forgot to ring the bell at the end of the eighth round, which was longer than the three minutes that were supposed to go by.
Coetzee was made the number one contender as a consolation prize, but he lost it to Englishman Frank Bruno in a first-round knockout in 1986. This was the end of his career, even though he made a couple of comebacks in the 1990s.
Coetzee started promoting and helped get heavyweight Frans Botha to the United States. He also gave Dingaan Thobela a short boost. Please tell your friends about this if you think it’s interesting. Go to Lighthousejournal.org for the latest updates and news about celebrities.
Emma is a Master of Science candidate at the California Institute of Technology. Since approximately four years ago, she has been a freelance writer, producing content for newspapers, magazines, blogs, and the internet