A new generation of South African heavyweight fighters may fulfil a boxing dream that has been brewing for 25 years, writes Deon Potgieter
Will the dawn of the new millennium see two South Africans battling it out for the heavyweight championship of the world?
It’s a dream which has been brewing for 25 years. Without a doubt when it comes to boxing, the heavyweight division is the one which draws the crowds worldwide.
South Africa has produced numerous world- class heavyweights throughout its proud 110-year boxing history. Whereas in earlier times the really outstanding fighters arrived one by one, the past 25 years have seen them arriving in twos.
In the early Seventies it was Jimmy Richards and Mike Schutte. Richards was labelled South Africa’s “golden boy” and earmarked for world title honours. His overeager management pushed him too hard too quickly, however, putting him against top international competition in only his fifth professional fight.
He had eight fights in his first six months as a pro. Although he weathered the storm, he received too much unnecessary punishment due to his inexperience, which was to hamper him later on in his career.
Although Schutte is now mainly remembered as the butt of countless jokes (he claims they’re not jokes, but the truth). But in his day, he was one of the top heavyweights in the world.
Nicknamed “The Tank” because of the manner in which he steamrollered his opposition, Schutte rose through the international ranks quickly and flattened most of those who came before him.
The two met each other in the ring on five occasions over a four-year period- three of these fights were for the national title. Schutte won the first two and the last.
“It was like hell. Worse than hell,” he says of his bruising battles with Richards. “If he had been managed properly, I think he could have been the best fighter ever to come out of South Africa.”
Schutte came close to legend when he was matched to fight Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship of the world. Shortly before the bout was to take place, however, Ali withdrew, citing contractual problems with the promoter.
“In those days Ali wasn’t at his best anymore,” says Schutte. “I was like a young Joe Fraser. I would have pushed him into a corner and knocked him out.”
Unfortunately, the bout never did come off. Schutte went on to fight two memorable bouts with future World Boxing Association (WBA)heavyweight world champion Gerrie Coetzee.
The first, in late 1976, was for Schutte’s national title and ended in the champion’s disqualification.
The bout, lasting six rounds, resembled a wrestling rather than a boxing match. Both fighters were cursing each other, biting and using elbows. Eventually a kick by Schutte resulted in his disqualification. A fairer decision would have been for both to be disqualified.
In the rematch five months later, Schutte adopted a cross-arm defence which caused Coetzee to break both his hands. Despite suffering incredible pain, Coetzee gave one of the finest performances of his career, winning a 12-round points decision over the ever-courageous “Tank”.
Subsequently, Coetzee needed several operations, and metal pins were placed in his right hand.
Schutte also faced Coetzee’s main rival of the era, Kallie “Die Bek van Boomstraat” Knoetze, for the National White Heavyweight title in August 1977. The championship soon became defunct as all racial discrimination was removed from boxing, leading the way decades before most other sports.
Knoetze stopped Schutte in the middle rounds with an uppercut that would have felled an ox. Seldom has Knoetze’s awesome punching power been seen in any ring.
The late sportswriter, Chris Greyvenstein, said of Knoetze: “He wielded his right with shattering effect, and if Knoetze added the dedication of a [Rocky] Marciano to this gift from the gods, he could have been the best heavyweight in the world.”
Not surprisingly, the mother of all boxing rivalries was between Knoetze and Coetzee. As amateurs, they met on six occasions, each winning three bouts. As professionals, their rivalry developed into a feud, both being out to prove just who was the best.
“We never liked each other,” said Knoetze. “I think it was because he knew how hard I could hit and I knew how fast he was. I’d still be throwing a punch and he’d have hit me twice.”
Coetzee and Knoetze met only once as professionals, with Coetzee winning a very controversial points decision.
Although Coetzee had dropped Knoetze in the fourth round, “Die Bek” had come back strongly in the latter rounds. The television commentators, and most ringsiders, thought Knoetze had done enough to take the fight. If anything, this controversy fuelled the competition between the two.
In 1979 the dream of seeing two South Africans do battle against each other for the heavyweight crown of the world became a very real possibility. Both fighters had proved their worth by facing and beating a host of top 10 contenders – mostly via the short route.
A jaded Ali, rather than face either of the men who would surely have inflicted serious damage on him, relinquished his world title.
Knoetze and Coetzee then met Big John Tate and Leon Spinks respectively in an elimination tournament for the world title.
“It’s what everybody here wanted to see,” says Knoetze. “Gerrie and myself for the heavyweight championship of the world. It was a dream.”
Knoetze, overwhelmed by the enormity of the occasion, lost to Tate on an eighth- round technical knock-out. “Physically I was ready. I could have beaten anybody in the world,” says Knoetze. “But mentally I was still an amateur. When I got into that ring, I was scared.”
A week after Knoetze’s shocking defeat, Coetzee took on Spinks in Monte Carlo. It was thought that Spinks – who had previously fought Ali in two 15-round fights for the latter’s world title, winning the first and losing the rematch – would be the tougher of the two Americans.
But Coetzee showed no respect for this status and scored one of the most memorable knock-outs in heavyweight history. Spinks was clearly out of his league. He was dropped by Coetzee three times shortly after the start of the first round.
Coetzee had his world title bout with John Tate. A record number of 90 000 spectators flocked to Loftus Versfeld on October 20 1979 to see the fight. An uncannily lacklustre Coetzee put on a dismal performance and lost the contest on a points decision.
Coetzee got another shot at world honours against Tate’s conqueror, Mike Weaver, a year later. Failing to finish off the job after having Weaver in all sorts of trouble throughout the bout, Coetzee himself was stopped in the 13th round of a gruelling contest.
Two years later, on September 23 1983, Coetzee got it right and knocked out Michael Dokes – a man who had never even been knocked down until then – in the 10th round of a pulsating battle for the WBAheavyweight world title.
(Bear in mind that at the time there were only two world titles on offer, unlike the multitude of titles available today, and the WBA’s was the most prestigious.)
Unfortunately, by this time, Knoetze was no longer a contender and a Coetzee/Knoetze world title bout was not on the cards.
Another crowd-pleaser of the time was the heavyweight rivalry between the man mountain Big Jimmy Abbott and the never- say-die, Durban-based fighter, Robbie Williams.
“Abbott was the most talented fighter South Africa has ever produced,” says former junior middleweight world title contender Gert Steyn. “If he had just had some discipline and kept his weight under control, nobody could’ve beaten him.”
Abbott and Williams met in five brutal bouts, each one a spectacular brawl. Both fighters won two bouts apiece and one ended in a draw.
Williams went on to meet Ossie Occasio for the vacant WBA junior heavyweight world title. Many felt he should have concentrated on this division. He lost a points decision.
Abbott, continually hampered by his weight, skyrocketed to an incredible 180kg and turned to wrestling.
Although the national title fight in 1984 between Pierre Coetzer and Bennie Knoetze (Kallie’s younger brother) was voted as the best fight of the year, it was the rivalry between Coetzer and Johnny du Plooy which rekindled the feelings of the Coetzee/Knoetze era.
As their predecessors had done, both these fighters rose through the international ranks and both came very close to world title honours.
In a game which is still largely manipulated by the United States boxing community, just getting a rating as a non- American was a remarkable achievement.
Du Plooy won 196 out of 200 amateur bouts and scored 17 knock-outs in his first 20 fights. Although he did not have the gift of the gab, it looked like South Africa had its next Kallie Knoetze.
Du Plooy faced Francesco Damiani in Italy on May 6 1989 for the newly formed World Boxing Organisation’s (WBO)heavyweight title.
Then on August 4 1990, the Coetzer/Du Plooy rivalry came to a head when the two boxers met in an eagerly awaited bout billed “Once and for all”.
Their combined purse was a then scintillating R1-million -the highest ever for two South Africans. It had all the fanfare of a world title fight and lived up to it in every respect. A packed Sun City audience rose to their feet when the boxers entered the ring and most stayed on their feet for the entire duration of the action- packed bout.
The first right Du Plooy threw caught Coetzer hard and opened a cut below his left eye. Clearly this fight would not go the distance. It was still a monstrous battle: every punch the two warriors threw at each other would have dropped lesser men.
Late in the first round Du Plooy put Coetzer down with a flurry of punches. In the second round, his face bleeding profusely, Coetzer caught Du Plooy with a crushing left hook followed by a right that helped him down. A gutsy and clearly groggy Du Plooy rose to his feet at the count of eight.
It was a formality for Coetzer to finish him off after that. While Du Plooy again rose to his feet, he was clearly unable to continue the ferocious battle.
It may not have been for a world title, but had the Coetzer/Du Plooy fight been between two Americans, it would still be regarded as one of the most exciting and dramatic bouts in heavyweight history.
Coetzer went on to be ranked as the number- one contender for the International Boxing Federation’s (IBF)heavyweight world title. He met Riddick Bowe, the number-two contender, in a world title eliminator.
Again the American machine found a way of side-stepping a top South African challenger, even though he was the number- one contender and should have been given a mandatory title shot.
Bowe, who repeatedly hit Coetzer below the belt, won on a very controversial technical knock-out in the eighth round.
When he struck Coetzer below the belt again – he had done so nine times at this juncture – Coetzer dropped his hands and complained to the American referee. Seeing the opportunity, Bowe climbed into the helpless South African. The referee stopped the fight in favour of his countryman.
Coetzer, realising that he would not be permitted to fight for the world title, took two big pay-day fights against Frank Bruno and George Foreman.
With more world titles now in the fray and therefore more opportunities, South Africa’s latest heavyweight rivals could fulfil the dream that started 25 years ago.
Corrie Sanders is the current World Boxing Union heavyweight world champion, and Francois Botha a former IBF heavyweight world champion.
It’s ironic that, although both these fighters are less talented than most of the aforementioned boxers, they have already tasted world title honours. Both men have indicated that they would be willing to face each other (if the money is right), but at the moment they both have bigger fish to fry.
Although Sanders holds a world title, it’s of a smaller sanctioning body and does not have the prestige of some of the other world titles.
In all honesty Botha (who fights out of the US), after his brave performance against Mike Tyson earlier this year, is a more saleable commodity than Sanders. But does a promoter choose marketing hype over his fighting ability?
Sanders and Botha have met four times as amateurs, the former winning all four, two by knock-out.
The “White Buffalo”, as Botha is known, will be fighting Shannon Briggs on August 7 in Las Vegas.
A win over a top contender like Briggs would put Botha in line to challenge the winner of the Lennox Lewis/ Evander Holyfield rematch.
But Sanders, who now fights out of the United Kingdom, has not been caught napping. He will be meeting the WBO heavyweight world champion, Vitali Klitschko, in October for a unification bout of their two titles.
If Sanders wins, it would open the possibility of another unification bout, also with the Lewis/Holyfield winner. If that bout comes off, it would see the five top sanctioning bodies in the world unified by one heavyweight world champion.
A Sanders/Botha heavyweight world title fight is a real possibility, albeit for the unified WBO and WBU titles. If the winner of the Lewis/Holyfield fight has the guts to face either of the South Africans, an even larger prize could be up for grabs.
Schutte/Richards, Knoetze/Coetzee, Abbott/ Williams, Coetzer/Du Plooy. It’s a hard act to follow and it’s unlikely that a Sanders/Botha match would generate as much excitement as their predecessors, but there’s the dream – a dream yearning to be fulfilled.