Road To A Third Title Bout
Less than 5 months after the disappointment versus Weaver, Coetzee returned to the ring and beat fringe contender George Chaplin before facing Renaldo Snipes, a man who later would be seconds away from becoming world champion when he landed a huge right hand bomb that knocked down and seriously hurt Larry Holmes in a title challenge. Coetzee dropped Snipes early and seemed to dominate the action. However, the fight was scored by rounds and not on points, meaning a round won widely with knockdowns was no more valued than a round lost narrowly, and he lost a ten round decision that was deemed one of the worst of the decade. Interestingly Coetzee lost the last few rounds confirming seemingly his reputation as a '6 round fighter'. Though some are ok with the scoring, this fight is routinely cited by boxing fans as one of THE 'worst decisions ever'.
Coetzee had gone 5-1 in the 6 fights since the Weaver bout. Included those half dozen fights was a win over former title challenger Scott Le Doux.
He next faced the up and coming future WBC champion Pinklon Thomas. Again, Coetzee held the edge in the first half of the bout but Thomas, possessing a very good chin and a snappy left jab, weathered Coetzee's early offense and rallied to hold the big South African to a draw. While the bout didn't severely damage Coetzee's reputation, it seemed to confirm the ceiling of Coetzee's abilities. That being not quite title material. 5 years on the world scene and two lost title shots. The 'loss' to Snipes, and now the draw with Thomas. Coetzee was still viable but seemingly was going nowhere.
Read more about this topic: Gerrie Coetzee
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