CORRIE SANDERS
FULL NAME: Cornelius Johannes Sanders
NICKNAMES: "Corrie", "The Bomber" "The Sniper"/Southpaw
DATE OF BIRTH: 1966
HOMETOWN: Pretoria, South Africa
PRO RECORD: 43-3, 31 KO's
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6'4, 225 lbs.
MANAGER/TRAINER: Harold Volbrecht
Sanders earned the South African Heavyweight title in 1991 with a first round demolition of Johnny DuPlooy, the former South African Champion and world-rated contender.
Corrie "The Bomber", started boxing at the age of eight. His father was a professional boxer and got him interested in the sport. He enjoyed many other sports, such as water-skiing, golf, and was a decent rugby player, but had a preference for boxing. His amateur career totaled 180 wins and 11 losses, during which he won 7 South African titles between 1979 and 1988. One of the great honors a boxer can be awarded in South Africa are the Springbok Colours(Chosen to represent the National Team) which Corrie received in 1988. He did all this while holding a job as a policeman from 1985-1989.
Sanders got the attention of the boxing world when he made short work of former heavyweight contender, Smokin' Bert Cooper. The fight took place on June 26th, at Resorts International Casino, in Atlantic City. After being knocked down, only to get up and face a barrage of straight left hands, Cooper was forced to quit in the 3rd round, turning away, and signaling to the referee that he could no longer continue. His right eye had swollen shut and he had suffered a nasty cut on his forehead, which bled profusely.
As they say in boxing, anything can happen, and on May 21st of 1994 something certainly did. When Corrie met heavyweight contender Nate Tubbs, this old adage proved correct once again. Tubbs, brother of former world champion Tony Tubbs, sporting a record of 12-1, with 11 KO's, caught Corrie with a big right hand, and placed Sanders on the mat for the first time in Corrie's career.
Corrie came back to the ring on August 13th after his KO loss to Nate Tubbs, against-former WBC Cruiserweight Champion Carlos DeLeon. Sanders showed everyone without a doubt that he was still in possession of his powerful punching power. Corrie's first knockdown of DeLeon came just after 3 seconds into round one; the second coming just a few seconds later. The final knockdown came from two of Sander's left jabs. The quick destruction of the former champ DeLeon and Corrie's general attitude showed his handlers that Sanders had put the Tubbs loss behind him.
In his next bout in September, which was on the Lennox Lewis/Oliver McCall Championship Card, Corrie fought an eight rounder {Shortened by T.V.} against Garing Lane. Corrie overpowered Lane for the majority of the bout, winning a unanimous decision.
On November 15th, 1997 Sanders dominated Ross Puritty over twelve rounds to win the vacant World Boxing Union championship.
In 1998, Corrie TKO'd Bobby Czyz in two rounds.
In 2000, Sanders TKO'd Al "Ice" Cole in one round.
In May of that same year, Sanders was stopped by Hasim Rahman.
In 2001, Sanders stopped Michael Sprott in round 1.
In 2002, Sanders stopped Otis Tisdale in round 2.
In 2003, Sanders stopped Wladimir Klitschko in round 2 to win the WBO title.
In 2004, Corrie unfortunately suffered defeat in the biggest fight of his career against Vitali Klitschko for the WBC title. Nevertheless, Sanders was valiant in the fight, showing alot of heart and rocking Klitschko on a few occasions.
In December of 2004, Sanders stopped journeyman heavyweight Alexei Varakin in round 2.
On November 24, 2006, Corrie Sanders returned with a second round stoppage of Colin Wilson.
On May 12, 2008 Sanders fought Daniel Bispo and won by unanimous decision. He suffered a hand injury early.
On February 2, 2008 Sanders fought fellow South African Osborne Machimana and was unfortunately stopped in the first round. After the fight he announced his retirement from boxing.
