'Smokin' Joe Frazier vs Gerrie Coetzee 'April 15, 1978'

[Flump]

Il Duce I though hepatitis derailed Smokin Joe's comeback, no?

[gilgamesh]

Joe wouldn't have had enough left in 1978 to have beaten Coetzee.

[Flump]

I also thought that Joe had signed to fight Kallie Knoetze in Las Vegas and that the Coetzee fight was only a rumour?

[bluerosekiller]

I remember very eagerly awaiting that fight as a 16 year old kid.
At that point, I'd been a rabid boxing fan for just a wee bit less than two years. Enthusiastic as hell, but still awfully green. Still, by then, I'd seen most of the best heavies of that era fight on television, but not Frazier, as his brutal KO loss to Foreman occurred on CCTV just before my attention was grabbed so strongly by the sport in the spring of '76.
So, I couldn't wait to see "Smokin'" Joe undrape live on NBC.
Of course, later on, I would discover that the fight had been scrapped weeks earlier. But, in that long ago pre-internet era, there was no up to the minute news. In fact, I vividly recall the listing & advertisement for the match up being prominently featured in that week's TV GUIDE!
Needless to say, I was MORE than a bit disappointed when I tuned in that Saturday afternoon to some other random sport that the network televised instead of the fight that never came to be.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Of course, later on, I would discover that the fight had been scrapped weeks earlier. But, in that long ago pre-internet era, there was no up to the minute news. In fact, I vividly recall the listing & advertisement for the match up being prominently featured in that week's TV GUIDE!
Needless to say, I was MORE than a bit disappointed when I tuned in that Saturday afternoon to some other random sport that the network televised instead of the fight that never came to be.

I remember a similar experience in 81 or 82 when I was eagerly awaiting Hagler/Hearns on HBO only to have a Who concert replaying as I racked my brain trying to figure out what was going on.

[Flump]

March 8, 1978

"FRAZIER'S RETURN STALLED"

The Transvaal Provincial Boxing Control Board blocked this April 15, 1978 bout.

It was later released, that a May or June 1978 bout might be held.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... iDCfJlFrUA

Frazier never actually signed for the fight though did he Il Duce?

[Syntax Error]

What kind of shape would Smokin' Joe have been in in 1978, considering he metaphorically left a piece of himself in Manila almost three years earlier & looked like the 'walking dead' against Foreman in 1976?

He might only have been 34, but he would have been an ancient 34 year old, especially with Joe's fighting style.

As someone who admires Frazier greatly, I'm glad he didn't comeback in '78, even if he did over 3 years later.