Duane Bobick vs. Kallie Knoetze ~ "White Heavyweight Championship of the World"

[Bill Paxtom]

Saturday ~ February 4, 1978

~ White Heavyweight Championship of the World ~

Rand Stadium ~ Johannesburg, South Africa

Promoter > Matt Lotter {Square Ring Enterprises}

Duane Bobick
Age........... 27 years, 6 months
Height....... 6' 3"
Reach........ 82"
Weight....... 213 lbs.
Record....... 40-1-0 {34 KO's}
Rank......... #5

Kallie Knoetze
Age.......... 24 years, 9 months
Height...... 6' 1"
Reach...... 76"
Weight..... 211 lbs.
Record..... 13-2-0 {12 KO's}
Rank........ #28

[Bill Paxtom]

This bout was originally scheduled for Saturday ~ January 28th.

Duane was there with Trainers > Eddie Futch and Murphy Griffith.

Also, Duane's publicist David Wolf was there as well.

The South African promoters {Square Ring Enterprises} wanted to stage
several bouts with Duane paired against the best South African Heavyweights.

[Bill Paxtom]

~ Duane Bobick Hits The Comeback Trail In Of All Places, South Africa ~

Duane Bobick, who is managed by Smokin' Joe Enterprises hits the comenack trail
in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Duane has been managed by Smokin' Joe Enterprises since February 18, 1975.

The 27 1/2 year-old Heavyweight from Bowlus, Minnesota will be having his first
bout on foreign land.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duane Bobick >

"I feel that there will less pressure on me here, then back in the United States, where
everybody expected me to win every bout easy."

"Boxing is a hurting business, and anybody with '2-Fists' can beat you."

"It's odd, but in Amerca every boxing writer was hoping for me to lose. I can't
understand their reason for that."

[Bill Paxtom]

~ Kallie Knoetze ~

What to make of this South African Policeman.

Kallie, who also goes by Cassius Knoetze is a hard-swinging slugger, who throws
bombs with every swing.

The {Age; 24 years, 9 months} South African is solidly built at 6' 1" and 211 lbs.

The South African is coming into this bout with a record of 13-2-0 wth {12 KO's},
but Kallie has been 'idle' for 5-Months, since last blasting out {KO 5} Richard Dunn
on September 10, 1977.

As for experience, Kallie has only been campaigning as Professional for 2-Years
{since February 28, 1976}.

Kallie has been compared to > Earnie Shavers, Ron Lyle and Sonny Liston.



Kallie Knoetze >

"My advantage will be, is that Duane Bobick knows little about me. That will be his downfall,
as he doesn't know how hard I can hit."

"What ever I hit, goes down. This bout will not take me that long. I expect him to fight like
he usually does, straight forward. Well, I will be waiting for him with my right-hand and
slug him out. I will take him out within 3-Rounds."

[Bill Paxtom]

Duane Bobick

Arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday, January 16th.

Duane had 12-Days to prepare for the January 28th bout.

The Bobick Team brought along talented California Heavyweight - Marty Monroe 13-0-1 {6 KO's}
with him for chief sparring chores.

Duane also sparred with South African Heavyweights > Mike Schutte and Johnny Nyulunga.

Duane looked somewhat disinterested in sparring. and lacked an aggressive approach.

But, the bout was pushed back 1-week, and re-scheduled to February 4th.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duane Bobick >

"From what I have seen, this Kallie guy has no style. He just walks in, and throws wide-punches
like a Bar Room Brawler. I'm sure he punches very hard, but with that style, he leaves himself wide
open for a counter."

"I'll be careful with him for 2 or 3 Rounds, and look to smother him. I'll start to work on him in
Round 4, and we'll see what he's got. In the bouts that I have seen of him, he starts to get arm-weary
fairly quickly."

[Bill Paxtom]

Saturday ~ February 4, 1978

Rand Stadium ~ Johannesburg, South Africa

Attendance ...... { 41,300 }

~ Duane Bobick Favored Over Kallie Knoetze , But Slightly ~

American Duane Bobick had opened up as a {3-1} Betting-Favorite over little known
South African - Kallie Knoetze.

But, the Odds dropped to {9-5}, as Duane had looked so very ordinary in sparring-sessions
here in Johannesburg.

In gym-sessions with Amercian Heavyweight - Marty Monroe, Duane was repeatedly 'rocked'
by right-hands from the medium-power fisted Monroe.

On the other side, Kallie Knoetze was hammering his sparring-partners with vicious right-hands
and powerful left-hooks. In one gym-session, Kalile sent 'both' of his sparring-partners to the canvas
in 1-Round each, and was out of sparring-mates.

[Bill Paxtom]

Saturday ~ August 10, 1974

Marion County Armory ~ Fairmont, West Virginia

Duane Bobick ~ 24-0-0 {22 KO's}
vs.
Franck Schram ~ 15-6-0 {11 KO's}

At the time, Duane {Age; 23 years, 11 months} was ranked as the #9 Heavyweight.

Duane who was based out of Denver, Colorado - was managed by Billy Daniels, a wealthy
Denver cable television operator.

Billy Daniels plan, was to take Duane out barn-storming in small venue's, and to carefully
match him up with 'selected opponents', and to get him as much experience as possible
while padding his record.

For Duane, this would be his 25th Bout in only 16-months since turning Professional on
April 10, 1973.

The 'original opponent' > Frank Schram was a hard-banging 29 year-old from Columbus, Ohio.
Frank was a '3-Time' Ohio Golden Gloves Champion {1965 / 1966 / 1967}.

But, Frank Schram pulled out.

Enter, 'perennial loser' Harold Carter of Cleveland, Ohio.

The 26 year-old Carter was a 'safer-than-safe' opponent, and had a record of 17-30-3 with {8 KO's},
including going 2-8-0 in his previous 10-Bouts.

[Beanflicker]

I never liked or gave a fuck about Duane Bobick and I'm glad he was a HW bust, because I read Joe Frazier's book many years ago and Joe talked about how Duane would talk down to him, and scream at him and one time when Joe was taping his gloves or something like that Duane was like "CANT YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT??" in front of the whole gym. So for him to degrade and disrespect a legend, I never liked him since.

Joe Frazier also warned him that he wasn't ready for a Ken Norton yet and Duane laughed and thought he was an idiot... well he got what was coming to him.

[brocktonblockbust]

Why did Knoetze throw AND MISS! so many looping overhand rights?

[Bill Paxtom]

Why did Knoetze throw AND MISS! so many looping overhand rights?

Good Notice,

Duane was able to dip down slightly, just as the looping overhand right was coming in.

Interesting bout, as Kallie threw so many punches here, yet never got arm-weary.

Kallie was 'relentless' from start-to-finish.

Duane proved that he did indeed have a 'decent chin'. He took many hard-bombs flush,
before going down just past the mid-way point in Round 3.

[brocktonblockbust]

Why did Knoetze throw AND MISS! so many looping overhand rights?

Good Notice,

Duane was able to dip down slightly, just as the looping overhand right was coming in.

Interesting bout, as Kallie threw so many punches here, yet never got arm-weary.

Kallie was 'relentless' from start-to-finish.

Duane proved that he did indeed have a 'decent chin'. He took many hard-bombs flush,
before going down just past the mid-way point in Round 3.

Ken norton also nailed the dwan Bobick with dozens of overhead rights right on the button yet Bobik did not go down right away

[Bill Paxtom]

Why did Knoetze throw AND MISS! so many looping overhand rights?

Good Notice,

Duane was able to dip down slightly, just as the looping overhand right was coming in.

Interesting bout, as Kallie threw so many punches here, yet never got arm-weary.

Kallie was 'relentless' from start-to-finish.

Duane proved that he did indeed have a 'decent chin'. He took many hard-bombs flush,
before going down just past the mid-way point in Round 3.

Ken norton also nailed the dwan Bobick with dozens of overhead rights right on the button yet Bobik did not go down right away

Correct Sir,

Duane took many punches flush from Ken, before going down while badly dazed.

And he still got up and beat the count.

[brocktonblockbust]

Why did Knoetze throw AND MISS! so many looping overhand rights?

Good Notice,

Duane was able to dip down slightly, just as the looping overhand right was coming in.

Interesting bout, as Kallie threw so many punches here, yet never got arm-weary.

Kallie was 'relentless' from start-to-finish.

Duane proved that he did indeed have a 'decent chin'. He took many hard-bombs flush,
before going down just past the mid-way point in Round 3.

Ken norton also nailed the dwan Bobick with dozens of overhead rights right on the button yet Bobik did not go down right away

Correct Sir,

Duane took many punches flush from Ken, before going down while badly dazed.

And he still got up and beat the count.

I always felt bad for Dwayne bobick.