Boxer, Mike Schutte dies
By Chris Swanepoel
Former South African heavyweight boxing champion, Mike "The Tank" Schutte, 57, passed away in Vanderbijlpark on Monday morning.
According to younger brother Peter Schutte, the former boxing idol had been ill for some time and died of possible organ failure.
Schutte, who was trained by the late Alan Toweel, will mostly be remembered for his epic fights with fellow South Africans Jimmy Richards, Kallie Knoetze and Gerrie Coetzee.
He was an underrated heavyweight who came within a whisker of fighting the inimitable
Muhammad Ali during the mid-seventies.
He won the SA heavyweight title from Richards in 1975 and lost the title to Coetzee the following year.
Schutte also fought and beat the likes of Cookie Wallace, Chuck Wepener, Joe "King" Roman, Obie English, Terry Hinke, Pat Duncan, Neil Malpass, Bill Carlson and Rudi Lubbers.
Schutte made his professional debut in May 1971 when he stopped Doug de Wet and remained undefeated in his next 13 fights before losing on a disqualification to Johnny Britz.
His five-fight series with Richards were like wars. In 1972, Schutte outpointed Richards twice, but lost to him in April 1974 and February 1975 when challenging for the national heavyweight title.
On September 13, 1975, in another memorable fight, he again beat Richards on points to become the champion.
In April 1977, in arguably the dirtiest fight ever seen in a South African ring, Schutte lost his SA title to a young Coetzee when he was disqualified in the sixth round.
In a return match in April 1977, he was outpointed over 12 rounds and in August the same year he was knocked out in the second round by Knoetze.
After outpointing Neil Malpass from England on June 18, 1979, Schutte announced his retirement from the ring to finish with a record of 38 fights, nine defeats, two draws and 28 wins.
He later turned to professional wrestling and added to his fan base as a musical entertainer. He also appeared in television adverts as well as a few comedy films.
Paying tribute to a former foe and later great friend, Kallie Knoetze Monday admitted having had a good cry after receiving news of "The Tank's" passing.
"When we met in the ring we passionately beat each other up. That passion was carried over in our friendship later and I have lost a very dear friend," Knoetze said.
"Van der Merwe jokes used to be the thing in South Africa before it was replaced by Mike and Kallie jokes. We enjoyed those jokes as much as the guys who were making them up.
"Anybody who have watched the fight when Mike was disqualified against Gerrie, will probably agree that fight made kick boxing famous and we used to joke a lot about that.
Ja, Mike liked to joke about himself and that made him the great friend and person he was," lamented Knoetze.
Schutte's funeral will be on Thursday and more details will be announced Tuesday.
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