Kallie Knoetze

Kallie Knoetze is a retired South African heavyweight boxer and actor, born Nikolaas Jacobus Knoetze on 24 April 1953. Known by the nickname "Die Bek van Boomstraat", he was rated the world's number-three heavyweight in January 1979, fought an elimination bout for the vacant WBA heavyweight title, and finished his career with 21 wins, 20 of them by knockout. Between 1979 and 1991 he also acted in four films. ^{1 2}

He was born on 24 April 1953 in South Africa. The sources disagree on his birthplace: the English article gives Roodepoort, while the German article and Wikidata give Pretoria, and the museum records both rather than choosing between them. ^{1 3 2}

As an amateur, Knoetze fought the future professional world champion Gerrie Coetzee six times, each man winning three bouts. He turned professional in 1976 and opened with six consecutive knockout wins, before a disqualification loss to Reinaldo Raul Gorosito and a points defeat to Coetzee. ¹

From late 1976 he put together an eleven-fight winning streak, avenging the Gorosito loss on points and knocking out the US Olympian Duane Bobick and the former Muhammad Ali opponent Richard Dunn. In January 1979 he knocked out Bill Sharkey in four rounds, a win that made him the world's number-three heavyweight. ¹

Knoetze then fought an elimination bout for the vacant WBA heavyweight belt, losing to another US Olympian, John Tate, by knockout. In the other elimination bout Coetzee beat Leon Spinks and then lost to Tate for the title. Knoetze never fought for a major title again; he won four of his last seven bouts and retired in 1981 after a second-round knockout loss to Robbie Williams. His professional record stands at 21 wins, 20 by knockout, against 6 losses. ¹

Between 1979 and 1991 Knoetze acted in four movies. His best-known role was the primary antagonist Rosco Dunn, a former corrupt professional boxer turned military sergeant, in the 1982 film Bomber. ¹

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