Description
Saturday 27, November 1976
Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Promoter: Proboks Promotions
Middle: Elijah Makhathini 159¾ 32-5-2 W TKO 3/12 Jan Kies 159½ 29-6-0
Referee: Peter Lock vacant South African Middle Title
Makathini is SA Non-White champion while Kies is SA White champion.
Heavy: Gerrie Coetzee 208 14-0-0 W KO 7/12 James Mathatho 185¾ 12-4-1
Referee: Stanley Christodoulou – South African Heavy Title
Coetzee is SA White champion while Mathatho is SA Non-White champion
Welter: Harold Volbrecht 145¼ 6-1-1 W PTS 12/12 Johnny Sham 142 17-1-0
South African (White) Welter Title
Light: Eddie Mileham 133½ 7-6-1 W PTS 6/6 Hansie van Rooyen 131¼ 13-6-4
Gerrie Coetzee vs James Mathatho
Gerrie Coetzee became “supreme” SA heavyweight champion when he knocked out black champion James Mathatho on 27 November 1976. Elijah ‘Tap Tap’ Makhathini beat the white South African champion Jan Kies on the same bill to become the first black fighter to win the ‘Supreme’ South African Champion. Apartheid in boxing was dismantled in this historical tournament 45 years ago.
For the record I was in the corner as a second to Jan Kies for this historical bout.
Description: A rare program of South African History when white and black boxers could legally fight each other for the first time. Apartheid was abolished in boxing on this occasion.
