Gerrie Coetzee became the first heavyweight world champion from Africa in 1983, completely out of the blue. Three years ago, a serious illness took the popular folk hero’s life.
The moment Gerrie Coetzee made history also caused him physical pain.
Michael Dokes’ right hand struck his face in the tenth round like a hammer blow, so hard that Coetzee’s hand broke. His opponent Dokes staggered briefly, grabbed the ring ropes—and was knocked out.
Coetzee, a white South African from Boksburg near Johannesburg, sensationally crowned himself heavyweight boxing champion on September 23, 1983, the first from Africa—a historic triumph with significant political implications.
For the then 28-year-old, it was the most memorable moment of an eventful and cinematic life, from which Coetzee was torn on January 12, 2023, by a serious illness.
Coetzee’s world championship victory surprised the boxing world
Coetzee had waited a long time for his big moment. Although he had already celebrated major victories before his world championship coup, including against Muhammad Ali’s conqueror Leon Spinks, he had already missed out on two world championship opportunities against John Tate and Mike Weaver.
And even in the fight against WBA champion Dokes, arranged by the shady promoter legend Don King, the odds were stacked against him. Dokes was considered a rising star, while Coetzee was seen as a better warm-up opponent.
But Coetzee’s brutal punching power threw a spanner in the works for Dokes.
An anti-racist in the apartheid regime
During the apartheid era, South Africa’s rulers loved to adorn themselves with Coetzee, whom they praised as the “white hope” and tried to co-opt in much the same way as the Nazis had once done with Max Schmeling’s sensational victory over Joe Louis.
Coetzee, however, was not a racist; on the contrary, he actively fought against racial segregation and repeatedly ignored the relevant laws—among other things, he adopted a dark-skinned boxing talent to make his life easier.
“I want to be a champion of the people, I want to be everyone’s champion,” he said after his world championship triumph over Cokes while still in the ring: “I don’t want to be the champion of a particular group.”
To Coetzee’s dismay, his world championship victory was also the beginning of the end of his fairy tale: the hand injury he sustained during the knockout punch played a role in this.
Injury thwarted big fight
Coetzee signed a contract for a title unification fight against IBF world champion Larry Holmes, but the duel was delayed by disputes over money and association vanities—and finally fell through when Coetzee’s right hand gave way again during training for a duel with the legendary Holmes.
In his comeback fight on December 1, 1984, Coetzee immediately lost his belt again to American Greg Page. He was never able to regain it.
Coetzee retired after British boxer Frank Bruno knocked him out in the first round in 1986. Two brief comebacks were of little significance.
Honored by Nelson Mandela
After his career, Coetzee worked as a motivational speaker. In January 2023, he died of lung cancer after a short, serious illness.
Only about a week passed between the diagnosis and Coetzee’s death, as his daughter Lana reported to the Independent Online portal: “It all happened so fast. It was an aggressive form of cancer.”
Coetzee was remembered as a national hero in his native South Africa. After the end of apartheid, he received a medal of honor from the then president, national hero, and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela.
A few years before Coetzee’s death, a Hollywood film about him was even in the works, with Liam Hemsworth cast in the lead role – but the project has since fallen silent.
