Former world and South African heavyweight champion Gerhardus ‘Gerrie’ Coetzee passed away after losing a battle against cancer on Thursday. He was 67.
Going by the moniker ‘Boksburg Bomber’, Coetzee shocked Leon Spinks from the United States when he stopped him in Monaco in June 1979. Four months later, Coetzee lost to American John Tate in a vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title fight in front of 86 000 people at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
Coetzee attempted to win the WBA heavyweight title again in October 1980 – he lost to Mike Weaver from the United States at the Sun City Superbowl in Rustenburg. Weaver had beaten Tate to win the title in March 1980.
Coetzee finally won the WBA heavyweight crown when he stopped Michael Dokes from the US in September 1983. He lost the title to another American Greg Page in December 1984. He had a professional record of 33 victories (21 stoppages), six losses and a draw.
