Comments Thread For: The lost generation and the pariah state: when a heavyweight belt changed hands in South Africa

[BoxingUpdates]

Kieran Mulvaney tells the story of Gerrie Coetzee losing his version of the world heavyweight title to Greg Page in South Africa on this day in 1984
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[PBR Streetgang]

Good article. Interesting read on a neglected era of Heavyweight history. As a kid, I remember reading stories of these fighters and fights in old boxing magazines i would buy at the local dime store (damn I sound old).

South Africa had some colorful and talented heavyweights. Coetzee, Sanders, Botha...I will even throw Courage Tshalabala, who wasn't as good as the others I mentioned but he was entertaining if limited.

I will also add that when I saw the picture of Coetzee, I immediately thought he looked like Pedro Pascal.

[BritJimbo]

Stop ****ting on the 80s heavyweights...compared to the Klitschko years they were great and much better than people think.

[Left Hook Louie]

Stop ****ting on the 80s heavyweights...compared to the Klitschko years they were great and much better than people think.

Yup, it's true.
I was there watching all these bad-@$$ mofo heavyweights on free TV.
I'll go so far as to say it was a golden age in its own way.

[ShoulderRoll]

Interesting that apartheid was instituted in South Africa in 1948. The same year that the apartheid state of Israel was established.

[1Eriugenus]

Coetzee was a good guy & spoke out against Apartheid. When he got married his best man was one of his sparring partners. A lot of white South Africans were appalled at his having a black man as his best man. He also, inadvertently, caused a lot of laughs when he fought Frank Bruno. A journalist asked him about his opposition to Apartheid & Coetzee immediately said 'I'm outspoken about racism. I call a spade a spade' . He couldn't understand why everyone was laughing until Bruno explained that in Britain 'spade' can be a rather derogatory term for a black person.

[1Eriugenus]

'Stop ****ting on the 80s heavyweights...compared to the Klitschko years they were great and much better than people think'.

They were largely (& large is the word) overweight, undertrained & on drugs. Not PEDs just recreational. If they had trained hard & stayed clean some of them could've been great. Michael Dokes had the fastest hands I've ever seen for a H/W. I honestly believe a clean, dedicated Dokes could've been an ATG. Tony Tubbs & Tim Witherspoon were also genuinely talented. I was less impressed by Greg Page or Pinklon Thomas. I recall there were guys like Mike Weaver & Trevor Berbick &, in fact, Coetzee who really did not have exceptional skills, in fact barely had adequate skills, who were competitive throughout the 80s because unlike so many of the others they actually showed up in shape! So, no, I don't look back on the H/Ws of the 80s as a great era at all.

[1Eriugenus]

Just looking back at footage of Dokes. He was addicted to *******, drink & lousy cheap junk food and between them they finished him off. l have never seen anyone so fast, so good, so sleek. Watching that footage makes me think of Messi or Maradona. I would love to be you, just for 30 seconds, just to know how it feels like to be so supremely talented.

[BritJimbo]

'Stop ****ting on the 80s heavyweights...compared to the Klitschko years they were great and much better than people think'.

They were largely (& large is the word) overweight, undertrained & on drugs. Not PEDs just recreational. If they had trained hard & stayed clean some of them could've been great. Michael Dokes had the fastest hands I've ever seen for a H/W. I honestly believe a clean, dedicated Dokes could've been an ATG. Tony Tubbs & Tim Witherspoon were also genuinely talented. I was less impressed by Greg Page or Pinklon Thomas. I recall there were guys like Mike Weaver & Trevor Berbick &, in fact, Coetzee who really did not have exceptional skills, in fact barely had adequate skills, who were competitive throughout the 80s because unlike so many of the others they actually showed up in shape! So, no, I don't look back on the H/Ws of the 80s as a great era at all.

I didn't say it was great...it wasnt as good as the 70s or 90s...but it was better than the Klitschko era