Bowe Knows Coetzer Is Step Toward a Title : Boxing: After heavyweights, Whitaker goes for Pineda’s IBF crown in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS —  During the past 36 years, the Futch touch has been applied to 17 world boxing champions.

Eddie Futch, the trainer who will turn 81 next month, firmly believes the list soon will grow to 18.

If Riddick Bowe defeats Pierre Coetzer, as expected, in a scheduled 12-round elimination bout tonight at the Grand Ballroom of the Mirage hotel, he will challenge heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield on Nov. 13.

“I said two years ago that Bowe could beat Holyfield then,” Futch said. “Boxing is a matter of styles. Holyfield is a built-up cruiserweight who doesn’t punch hard but comes to you and gets hit a lot.

“Bowe is a much bigger guy and is a combination boxer-puncher. He knows how to fight inside, and he’s got a vicious uppercut. Holyfield is made to order for him.”

So apparently is Coetzer, a 30-year-old South African who has been seen in this country only in such boxing hotbeds as Green Bay, Wis.; Biloxi, Miss.; Williamson, W.Va., and Bealton, W.Va.

Not to be confused with fellow South African and former World Boxing Assn. champion Gerrie Coetzee, Coetzer has not beaten a notable heavyweight while building a 39-2, 27-knockout record.

Somehow, the WBA ranks him No. 1 and Bowe of Brooklyn No. 2.

Bowe, 6 feet 5, weighed a surprisingly heavy 245 pounds Friday, compared to 215 for Coetzer, who is 6-4.

HBO has given main-event status on the televised card, which begins at 7 p.m., to Pernell Whitaker’s attempt to take the International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight title from champion Rafael Pineda of Colombia.

Whitaker has relinquished the undisputed lightweight title. He is 29-1 with 14 knockouts.

Bowe is 30-0 with 26 knockouts, but he has had some detractors. Tony Tubbs, a counterpuncher who briefly owned a share of the title, gave Bowe fits last year in Atlantic City, N.J., and, at times, Bowe has appeared to be more mechanical than inspired.

When Futch began training him after Seoul, Bowe, now 24, was afraid to throw the right hand.

“I told him that I worked with Joe Frazier, a guy who could hit very hard, for 12 years, and Joe never had trouble with his hands,” Futch said. “A lot of fighters hurt their hands because they aren’t bandaged properly. I can bandage hands. I also showed Bowe how to throw the right properly. He hasn’t had any problems with the hand since.”

If anything, Bowe throws it too often.

He sparred more rounds than usual, more than 100, for this fight, and the emphasis was on his delivery of the left hook.

“He’s got a good hook and we’re trying to get him to use it more,” Futch said.

If his trainer has his way, Bowe will throw more lefts and clown around less tonight.

“All along, we’ve been trying to get a lot of the Muhammad Ali out of him,” Futch said. “I mean, the hotdog stuff. I don’t want him to be a second-rate Muhammad Ali. I want him to be a first-rate Riddick Bowe.”