Second Attempt At A World Title
Tate lasted only a short time as WBA world titlist, as he was beaten by Mike Weaver in his first title defense. Weaver had risen to world challenger from a very uneven early stage of his career. He had several losses and was a late bloomer to some degree. He achieved notoriety when as a huge underdog he gave a spirited challenge to Larry Holmes in 1979.
In the Tate-Weaver bout, Tate was the star and was seen by some few as the rival claimant, along with Holmes to the true legitimate Heavyweight title now fractured since Ali's retirement. Tate boxed neatly against the muscular Weaver. Unlike in his bout against Holmes, Weaver wasn't enjoying much success. Going into the 15th and last round, Weaver needed a miracle. In a spectacular finish, Weaver knocked out Tate with a home run left hook depositing Tate face down. The end of the count over Tate came with 15 seconds left in the bout.
In the meantime, Coetzee had maintained his status as a highly rated contender with a keep-busy knock out over Mike Koraniki in the first round to keep his title hopes alive. Weaver duly traveled to South Africa in 1980 to defend his title against Coetzee, fighting in front of a very large crowd. As usual, Coetzee dominated the early portions, and had Weaver hurt several times. It was Coetzee that was both the aggressor and the dynamic, fluid fighter. In the 8th, Weaver was in desperate trouble but Coetzee was sloppy and did not place his punches to finish him off.
With the missed opportunity to finish Weaver gone, Coetzee seemed to wilt. Weaver was beginning to time Coetzee's punches for counters. By round 12 the fight was close to even, with the South African's lead having evaporated. Weaver had survived Coetzee's onslaught and the tide had turned. Coetzee's stamina failed him and he began to throw fewer punches by round 9. Coetzee was now leaning and mauling more and was getting hit more often coming in with his unprotected head held high. Weaver was accelerating and was getting the better of exchanges as the bout wore on.
Spent, exhausted and unable or unwilling to box and move to ride out the storm, Coetzee was knocked down for the first time in his career and out by a big counter punch in the 13th round.
Read more about this topic: Gerrie Coetzee
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