It has been reported that Gillie Buitendag, one of the most exacting welterweight fighters around, who fought from July 1970 to June 1975, has passed away.
After an outstanding amateur career, he made his professional debut against Bennie DeBeer at the Ellis Park Tennis Court Stadium winning on a third-round knockout.
He was a terrific puncher, scoring inside-the-distance wins over Jaap van Jaarsveld (ko 1), Kevin Glossop (ko 3), Alfie Piypou (ko 1), Gavin Crouch (tko 2), Gerhard Hedin (tko 3), Henry Brooks (tko 3), Bernard Gimond (ko 2) and Michael Le Roux (ko 4), before losing on a stoppage against South African welterweight champion Spider Kelly on a sixth-round technical knockout in a non-title fight.
On 29 November 1971, at the Ellis Park Tennis Courts in Johannesburg, he fought to an eight-round draw against the vastly experienced Englishman Johnny Cooke, a 98-fight veteran.
In his next fight he was stopped in the seventh round by another imported fighter, Pat McCormack (18-8-1).
After this setback he went on a winning streak against Des Rea, Bruno Meggiolar, Pasquino Andreoli, and Chris Duplessis before losing on points over 12 rounds against Gert Steyn in a challenge for the South African welterweight title, one of the select few South African fighters to win two South African titles (he also held the South African junior middleweight title at one time).
Buitendag then lost to Gert Craemer on points over ten rounds in a clash for the Transvaal welterweight title and also suffered losses against Coert Fourie (tko 3) and Pat McCormack (tko 4) in a return fight at the Ellis Park Tennis Stadium in Johannesburg on 27 June 1975, which proved to be his last fight.
He finished with a record 21-5-1; 17 (62.97 per cent knockout ratio), but was unfortunate not win a South African title because there many classy welterweights around.