francois botha how good was he

Botha. Chisora doesnt have the power to one shot him like tyson.
Doesnt have the technique to break him down like moorer

 

He was nothing special but he would fight anyone. South Africa has produced some very tough no frills blue collar type Heavyweights.

 

And he was pretty hilarious as well. Calling Parker baby Joseph right up till the ko. Chasing sbw around the ring so bad they shortened the fight.

 

He was a decent fighter, nothing special.

 

Except he did win a world title.

 

It would be a good fight although I would give Botha the edge and a win by UD...

 

Ends in a draw

 

Prime for prime, 50/50 imo.

 

He got screwed against SBW in Queensland

 

Sonny bill was trash.

 

He was but he KO’d a total boxing hype job called Barry Hall in about 20 seconds.

Hall was a very good Australian Rules Football player who had a couple of amateur fights as an underage kid. Somehow this turned into him being some boxing prodigy who could’ve won world titles. He couldn’t.

 

I would have liked Baz to have a few after his playing career. But he waited too long. Even as an old man I wasnt exactly offended at his boxing vs Gallen. For a bloke having his debut pro fight.

 

My top 10 Heavyweight's of the 90s based on achievements look like this.

1 Lennox Lewis
2 Evander Holyfield
3 Riddick Bowe
4 Mike Tyson
5 George Foreman
6 Michael Moorer
7 Oliver McCall
8 Ray Mercer
9 Ike Ibeabuchi
10 Tommy Morrison

I would say Botha was somewhere in the top 15-20 in the 90s, his standout performances were vs Moorer, Tyson, Briggs. Against Moorer he gave him a tough fight and showed alot of heart before being stopped in the 12th round in a good fight. Against Briggs in a very underrated fight he was very unlucky not to get the decision with the majority thinking Botha won the fight. And against Tyson who was faded by this point but still had a bit left, he had Tyson befuddled for 5 rounds taking advantage of Tyson's weakness to being clinched on the inside until Tyson landed a perfect right hand in the 5th round.

All in all a very game contender in a tough Heavyweight era.

 

He has a handful of cool fights to watch and a bizarre kickboxing career as well which was also really interesting to watch. He had some good technique and always came to win and was a powerful man just not a crazy puncher. Gave a lot of tough fights. Double jab, right hand, grab. He almost had that "signature moment" a few times over. To be fair, being stripped of the IBF for steroid usage in the 90s is a big joke.