Following Peter's loss to Vitali, I thought it would be appropriate to look at some real African Warriors.
Gerrie Coetzee is one of my favorites, he had really fast hands, was a very good counterpuncher, and one of the top Heavyweights of his day. It's really too bad a bout with Holmes never materialized, as I really think Coetzee could have won that fight. Here are some clips of Gerrie in action:
1st round KO over Leon Spinks
part one of his rediculous loss to Renaldo Snipes
*Note you can find the rest of the fight at the end of each part.
part one of his WBA title victory over Michael Dokes
Kallie Knoetze, who was Coetzee's hated rival, had some heavy hands. He was not very fast, but possessed extreme power. He was a cop who had his US visa revoked because he had shot a black in the line of duty at an earlier time. As such, he only fought in the US once. He got beat by John Tate, but Knoetze said he couldn't train for the fight, which was very apparent. He said if his mind would have been right, there was no fighter in the world who could have beat him that night. Here is his KO win over Denton Ruddock:
KO of Ruddock NOTE: check the right hand that lands at 2:58. That is the most powerful shot I've ever seen, that didn't knock down an opponent.
Pierre Coetzer is best known for losing in three very gutsy performances to Bowe, Bruno and Foreman. He was a very tough, strong Afrikaaner who put together some good wins. Against Bowe, he was hit low NINE TIMES (Bowe got his payback for this against Golota). To show how tough this guy was, watch the final round versus Bowe. He just never stopped coming forward!
vs Bowe
Also, check out this very exciting fight between he and DuPlooy!
vs DuPlooyNote: DuPlooy has the longer hair.
Speaking of Johhny DuPlooy, he is another very underrated Heavyweight out of South Africa. He didn't possess the best chin, but he packed a good punch. He KO'd Mike Weaver in two rounds. Note many videos, heres one of him fighting Bennie Knoetze, Kallie's brother.
vs Bennie Knoetze
Corrie Sanders we are probably all familiar with. Of course he beat Wlad and earned a piece of Heavyweight history. In the rematch, Sanders was dominated by Vitali for 8 rounds, as was Samuel Peter. Unlike Peter, however, Sanders carried on the tradition of the gutsy South Africans, by continuing to fight, right up until the ref stepped in to save him. That's something Samuel Peter refused to do. Here are some early clips of Corrie:
vs Matthew Brooks
vs Jorge Valdes
vs Michael Sprott
vs Al Cole
And Finally, Frans Botha. To me Frans is the South African Golota. His chin wasn't great, but he's had some really bad luck. He didn't look too bad in his losin effort to Klitschko. He beat Shannon Briggs and Clifford Etienne pretty convincingly, but both fights ended as draws! Heres the Briggs fight:
part 1 of Botha-Briggs
What did all the fighters have in common (besides the mustache)? They all had vast amounts of courage, and were Heavyweights that we should be proud of. They faced discrimination (I'm not sure but I think only one of the ranking organizations would rate them, the others wouldn't put them in because they were South African) and yet still managed to put together some pretty good careers. And they are the best Heavyweights Africa has ever produced.
Gerrie Coetzee is one of my favorites, he had really fast hands, was a very good counterpuncher, and one of the top Heavyweights of his day. It's really too bad a bout with Holmes never materialized, as I really think Coetzee could have won that fight. Here are some clips of Gerrie in action:
1st round KO over Leon Spinks
part one of his rediculous loss to Renaldo Snipes
*Note you can find the rest of the fight at the end of each part.
part one of his WBA title victory over Michael Dokes
Kallie Knoetze, who was Coetzee's hated rival, had some heavy hands. He was not very fast, but possessed extreme power. He was a cop who had his US visa revoked because he had shot a black in the line of duty at an earlier time. As such, he only fought in the US once. He got beat by John Tate, but Knoetze said he couldn't train for the fight, which was very apparent. He said if his mind would have been right, there was no fighter in the world who could have beat him that night. Here is his KO win over Denton Ruddock:
KO of Ruddock NOTE: check the right hand that lands at 2:58. That is the most powerful shot I've ever seen, that didn't knock down an opponent.
Pierre Coetzer is best known for losing in three very gutsy performances to Bowe, Bruno and Foreman. He was a very tough, strong Afrikaaner who put together some good wins. Against Bowe, he was hit low NINE TIMES (Bowe got his payback for this against Golota). To show how tough this guy was, watch the final round versus Bowe. He just never stopped coming forward!
vs Bowe
Also, check out this very exciting fight between he and DuPlooy!
vs DuPlooyNote: DuPlooy has the longer hair.
Speaking of Johhny DuPlooy, he is another very underrated Heavyweight out of South Africa. He didn't possess the best chin, but he packed a good punch. He KO'd Mike Weaver in two rounds. Note many videos, heres one of him fighting Bennie Knoetze, Kallie's brother.
vs Bennie Knoetze
Corrie Sanders we are probably all familiar with. Of course he beat Wlad and earned a piece of Heavyweight history. In the rematch, Sanders was dominated by Vitali for 8 rounds, as was Samuel Peter. Unlike Peter, however, Sanders carried on the tradition of the gutsy South Africans, by continuing to fight, right up until the ref stepped in to save him. That's something Samuel Peter refused to do. Here are some early clips of Corrie:
vs Matthew Brooks
vs Jorge Valdes
vs Michael Sprott
vs Al Cole
And Finally, Frans Botha. To me Frans is the South African Golota. His chin wasn't great, but he's had some really bad luck. He didn't look too bad in his losin effort to Klitschko. He beat Shannon Briggs and Clifford Etienne pretty convincingly, but both fights ended as draws! Heres the Briggs fight:
part 1 of Botha-Briggs
What did all the fighters have in common (besides the mustache)? They all had vast amounts of courage, and were Heavyweights that we should be proud of. They faced discrimination (I'm not sure but I think only one of the ranking organizations would rate them, the others wouldn't put them in because they were South African) and yet still managed to put together some pretty good careers. And they are the best Heavyweights Africa has ever produced.
