South African heavyweights have made numerous challenges for one or other portion of a world heavyweight title and only three have succeeded in winning one of the major organisation belts.
Gerrie Coetzee won the WBA version of the world heavyweight title when he stopped Michael Dokes in the 10th round on 23 September 1983 in Richfield, Ohio, with the second champion Frans Botha winning the IBF belt when he outpointed Axel Schulz in Stuttgart, Germany on 9 December 1995 to win the IBF belt.
However, shortly after the fight Botha allegedly tested positive for steroids shortly and was stripped of the title.
The most sensational winner was Corrie Saunders who smashed the highly rated Wladimir Klitschko to defeat inside two rounds on 8 March 2003 in Hannover, Germany.
SUMMARISED REPORTS
20 October, 1979 - Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
The first South African to challenge for the heavyweight crown was Gerrie Coetzee in a disappointing fight as more than 77 000 fans at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria saw him barely survive in losing a dull 15-rounder on a unanimous point’s decision against American John Tate for the vacant WBA crown. Coetzee talked his way through the early rounds and was clearly beaten at the end as Tate finished strong with Coetzee running out of ideas and of time on a wet and dull night.
25 October, 1980. - Sun City, Bophuthatswana
Having a second crack at the WBA heavyweight title, Gerrie Coetzee once again failed when he was knocked out in the 13th round by the magnificently muscled American Mike Weaver after failing to stop Weaver when he had him in serious trouble in the eighth round.
23 September, 1983 - Richfield, Ohio, USA
In one of the greatest nights in South African boxing history and also an upset in the heavyweight division, Gerrie Coetzee became the WBA heavyweight champion when he knocked out American Michael Dokes in the 10th round after dropping Dokes to one knee in the fifth round. A superbly conditioned Coetzee survived a badly cut eye in the second round to score his greatest triumph in the ring after his previous failures.
1 December, 1984 - Sun City, Bophuthatswana
In a below-par performance, Gerrie Coetzee lost his WBA heavyweight title to underdog Greg Page from America when he was knocked out in the eighth round. In a controversial eighth round that went to 3 minutes 50 seconds, Coetzee was holding his own as the eighth round approached the three-minute mark but as it went beyond three minutes, Page's corner screamed at the timekeepers to ring the bell, but stopped screaming when Page launched a two fisted attack that eventually resulted in Coetzee being dropped and counted out at 3 minutes 50 seconds of the round.
6 May, 1989 - Syracuse, Italy
In a bout for the first fight for the World Boxing Organisation heavyweight title, Johnny du Plooy was knocked out in the third round by the fleshy looking Italian Francesco Damiani for the vacant title. A well prepared Du Plooy was out jabbed from round one and shaken early in round three. Damiani quickly followed up his advantage before landing with a right to the head and a perfectly timed left hook which sent Du Plooy to the canvas to be counted out by referee Tony Perez after 1 minute 24 seconds of the round.
9 December, 1995 - Stuttgart, Germany
Against the odds Francois Botha beat German Axel Schulz in his home country on a disputed 12-round decision to win the IBF heavyweight title which was declared vacant after George Foreman was stripped for refusing to defend against Schulz. Botha was fortunate to win a version of the title as prior to this fight he had never fought a ranked fighter, yet he was listed as number one by the IBF. According to pundits, neither of the two fighters deserved a world ranking. The crowd of 12 400 at the Martin Schleyer Hall hurled glasses and bottles into the ring after the decision was announced. Boxing News magazine reported that it was hardly a spectacle of excellence and at the end, both men raised their arms at the final bell – now almost an instinctive reaction in a title fight, but there were no real winners on a night which left a nation both reeling and raging. Subsequently, Botha was stripped of the title after testing positive for steroids.
9 November, 1996 – Las Vegas, USA
Fransie Botha made a brave effort to win back the IBF heavyweight title which was taken from him by a New Jersey court after it was decided that the IBF had not taken proper action when he allegedly tested positive for steroids following the win over Axel Schulz. In challenging the southpaw Michael Moorer for the IBF title, Botha was courageous and gallant, but Moorer wore him down slowly, flooring the challenger twice in the 11th round before a brisk finish in the 12th round. He was rescued by referee Mills Lane after 18 seconds of the last round when his head was jolted back by a five punch sequence.
15 July, 2000 – London, England
England’s Lennox Lewis retained the WBC and IBF heavyweight titles when he completely outclassed South African Fransie Botha with a comprehensive second-round stoppage in their scheduled 12-rounder at the London Arena. After wobbling Botha in the first minute of round one, Lewis caught the South African flush as he feinted and then forced him to the ropes where a straight right, a lunging left and then a chopping right knocked Botha half way through the ropes. After taking a seven count, Botha got up, but referee Larry O’Connell stepped in to call it off after 2 minutes 39 seconds of the second round.
16 March, 2002, Stuttgart – Germany
Wladimir Klitschko stopped South Africa's Frans Botha with a barrage of punches in the eighth round to retain his WBO heavyweight title for the third time. Botha, the former IBF belt holder before being stripped, gave Klitschko some trouble in the early rounds with holding tactics, but began absorbing heavy punishment in the fifth. The Ukrainian, eyeing a major title fight, ran his record to 38-1 with 35 knockouts in a one-sided fight. The knockout came when the two-metre tall Ukrainian buckled Botha's knees with a straight left midway through the final round. Botha absorbed several more rights and lefts as he fell backwards into the ropes. A short left uppercut then dropped him flat on his back.
8 March, 2003 – Hannover, Germany
Corrie Sanders shocked the world when he knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in the second round to win the WBO heavyweight belt. The 37-year-old Sanders wasted no time in taking the fight to the 26-year-old Ukranian and it was a southpaw left hand that put the champion flat on his back midway through the first round. Klitschko managed to beat the count but shortly afterwards he was down again and survived to the bell. The 11 000 crowd at the Preussag Arena were stunned as the champion was down twice in the second round before referee Genaro Rodriguez from the USA stepped in to call the fight off after 27 seconds into the round and crown Sanders the new champion.
24 April, 2004 - Los Angeles, USAVitali Klitschko restored the family honour and won the vacant WBC heavyweight title with an eighth round stoppage win over South Africa’s Corrie Sanders at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Klitschko seemed on his way to winning the first round until Sanders staggered him with a big left hand with about 10 seconds to go. Klitschko came back strong to do almost all the damage in round two. Klitschko won the first two minutes of round three, then the fighters traded bombs for the remainder of a very exciting round. Vitali did most of the work in round four, and rocked Sanders in round five. Sanders was much more aggressive in round six, but Klitschko continued to get the best of the exchanges. Sanders kept coming forward in round seven but did little offensively while taking a beating. The carnage was finally stopped by referee Jon Schorle in round eight. Sanders never went down but was taking huge bombs. The official time was 2:46.
3 December, 2022 – London, England
Kevin Lerena came close to winning a version of the world heavyweight title when he had Daniel Dubois from England down three times in the first round but failed to follow up his advantage as he let Dubois back into the fight, in a challenge for the WBA “regular” heavyweight title held by Dubois at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. The southpaw Lerena knocked the much bigger Dubois down three times with his left hand. The South African failed to follow up his advantage in round two and in the third round, Dubois dropped Lerena with a big right hand to the head. Shortly after Duboos scored with big uppercuts to put Lerena on the canvas as referee Howard Foster stopped the fight. It has been reported that an objection has been lodged to the WBA and British Boxing Board of Control regarding the biased refereeing and a short round.