His Afrikaans nickname was "Seer Handjies", or "Sore Little Hands", named so by fellow South African boxing great Kallie Knoetze.
[2][3][4] Coetzee started boxing professionally on the night of 14 September 1974, when he beat 19 fight veteran and fellow South African Christian Roos by a decision in four.
Among those wins was one over Roos in a rematch, which Coetzee won by a knockout in three rounds; he also defeated South African Mike Schutte who had been casually considered as a potential gimmick opponent for Muhammad Ali.
Coetzee's other notable wins included defeating former world title challengers Ron Stander, Randy Stephens, and Pierre Fourie; a South African Heavyweight championship victory against amateur rival Kallie Knoetze (unanimous decision in 10) as well as a first-round knockout of former world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks.
In the fight with Spinks, the former champion attacked Coetzee and pressured him, throwing punches from many angles and trying to steam-roll the South African.
Coetzee as the #2 contender was matched with John Tate for the WBA heavyweight title that had been left vacant by Muhammad Ali’s retirement.
The first multiracial South African title fights were held at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg on 27 November 1976 when Coetzee defeated the top black challenger James Mathatho with a seventh round knockout in a heavyweight bout for the SA championship.
On the same card, Elijah 'Tap Tap' Makhatini beat white contender Jan Kies to become the undisputed South African middleweight champion.
[5] Tate lasted only a short time as WBA world titlist, as he was KO'd in spectacular last-round fashion by Mike Weaver in his first title defense.
In the meantime, Coetzee had maintained his status as a highly rated contender by bombing out Mike Koraniki in the first round to keep his title hopes alive.
Coetzee was knocked down for the first time in his career and failed to beat the count having been floored by a big counter punch in the 13th round.
Less than 5 months after the loss against Weaver, Coetzee returned to the ring and beat fringe contender George Chaplin before facing Renaldo Snipes.
Among the wins was one over former title challenger Scott Le Doux heading into a bout with the up-and-coming future WBC champion Pinklon Thomas.
By now known as someone who could not win "The Big One", Coetzee's predicted fate in this bout was to show-case the Don King-promoted Dokes' abilities and status as a rising star.
Coetzee's poise was apparent, and he boxed more deftly than usual employing more left hooks rather than merely swinging his potent right hand.
After seizing control and dominating, Coetzee knocked out Dokes in the tenth round to become South Africa's first world Heavyweight title holder.
[7] It turned out that the punch that knocked out Dokes hurt Coetzee even more: his right hand was broken and required surgery five days after the fight, in New York City.
He was seen as supremely talented and like many fighters in the immediate post-Ali era, his size, speed, and coordination supposedly portended great expectations of achievement.
Coetzee's lack of defense was more evident than usual, and he was a sitting duck for Page's counter-punching and his once dependable chin seemed to fail him, being stung and hurt often.
Finally in 1997, Coetzee lost to former world Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champion Iran Barkley by a knockout in ten, after dropping him in round two, for the WBB Superheavyweight belt.