Why did Botha get all the big fights that Sanders didn't?

Botha was a former IBF world champion. While they can void the result and take away the belt they can't take away the exposure. Everyone now knew who he was.

Flipside is that while Botha got those fights he never got ranked in the Ring top 10.

 

This. Also throw in the fact that Sanders was a tall Southpaw, had fast hands, could punch, and fought mostly in relative obscurity IIRC, sort of a fringe contender type. It was the risk/reward problem with him. Why would any of the top guys want to mess that?

 

Botha was a lot better than many guys who got ranked in the Ring Top 10.

 

Let’s not ignore that Sanders also fought both Klitschkos. You can argue that he was past prime, but considering he beat Wlad he clearly wasn’t washed.

But there are a few things at work here:

1) Frans signed with Don King, who controlled the heavyweight division. And Don liked to keep things in house as much as possible, so that whoever won he still had controlling stock in the winner.

2) Corrie, on the other hand, was most closely allied with Cedric Kushner, a South African promoter who specialized in heavyweights, and Cedric didn’t quite have the juice (or financial wherewithal) to make the bigger fights. Thus Sanders was getting more table scraps.

3) Sanders was a southpaw, and many managers are loathe to put their guys in with lefties unless there’s considerable upside (title fight, eliminator or huge purse). And he was a southpaw with power, which made him even more of a guy to avoid.

I once had a (long) conversation with Randall “Tex” Cobb, and the one thing he said that stuck with me was ‘big money always takes an angle on small money.’ Frans had big money behind him in King, while Sanders had small money backing him in Kushner.

There’s also the fact that Corrie was notoriously lazy about training, and it’s possible some opportunities passed him by because either he or Kushner turned them down because he wasn’t in shape when the right opportunity came along but there wasn’t going to be proper opportunity for a long camp (thus making it wiser to turn down an offer than to risk losing because of being out of shape). So while I don’t know for sure that this was ever an obstacle, knowing how boxing works it’s a reasonable assumption that at some point an offer would come along because someone else fell out for whatever reason and he/his team just didn’t think he was ready for it.

 

Boxrec said the IBF had him rated number 1. He was 35-0. He didn't have a major win but 35-0 is a fairly unusual unbeaten streak.

 

The Don King-promoted Botha being ranked IBF #1 in '95 was a running joke in The Ring magazine. He was garbage. However, the Moorer fight revealed he had the heart of a lion and he eventually developed some decent skills.

 

Corrie Sanders was seen as a fringe contender, but after getting knocked out by journeyman Nate Tubbs, I think he lost a lot of his drive in the ring. He was never consistent with his conditioning after that and had to rebuild his career from the ground up. Once he got back to a certain level, he faced Hasim Rahman. He had his moments and even hurt Rahman, but ultimately lost by stoppage in a one sided fight. Then came the famous upset. Sanders knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in two rounds. What makes it even crazier is that he told commentators beforehand he was only there for a payday and didn’t expect to win. In his next fight against Vitali, he had a strong moment early and arguably even scored a knockdown in the first round, although it wasn’t officially counted. That would have made him the only fighter to drop Vitali. After that, though, he was beaten up for the rest of the fight.

The reality is Sanders never really “earned” a big fight until his Wladimir win. He was also a very flawed fighter with great strengths. He stood upright, had little head or waist movement, and limited punch variety. His chin was often exposed, which led to multiple knockouts, like the previously mentioned Tubbs fight. I once compared Itauma to Sanders after his fight with Franklin. They’re both southpaws, among the faster heavyweights in terms of hand speed, and both can go too hard early. They’re also physically strong, although Sanders was on another level in that department. That said, even Sanders makes Itauma look like Joe Frazier in terms of fluidity, because of how stiff Sanders could be. But this isn’t a hate post. At the end of the day, Sanders is a hero in South Africa and to the wider boxing world. I’m sure he’s looking down upon us right now.

And to answer your question, Botha was an undefeated fighter before his two fights at the vacant IBF title. He gave Tyson one of his toughest fights and arguably should have beaten Briggs, so he was clearly operating in the big fight mix. Sanders was not.

 

And he rightfully should be a national hero, not so much because he beat Wlad or had a decent boxing career, but because of how he died. He likely came to the most noble and courageous end of any boxer in history.

For those who don’t know, Corrie was out with his family at a restaurant when armed gunmen entered to rob it. Sanders took a fatal bullet shielding his daughter. He literally gave his life for her.

His heroism should never be forgotten. As a boxer, in my estimation he was basically a one-trick pony who pulled off one major upset in an otherwise fairly mid career. But as a man, I hold no one in higher esteem.

RIP, Sniper.

 

Another point that should be mentioned here is that Botha was very good at marketing himself compared to the more reserved Sanders. Botha had the whole “White Buffalo” gimmick, would be loud and wear flamboyant fur coats and pronounce his abilities, versus Sanders who was a much quieter fella.

 

Sanders was much higher risk for a similar reward at the time.

Southpaw with a sneaky, devastating left hand counted down the middle, you can’t switch off for one second, whereas Botha wasn’t a particularly big puncher and wasn’t as athletic.

 

Botha was a good self promoter who would put up a fun, game fight against top opponents without them running the risk of him beating them.

Sanders was a soft-spoken guy who could switch guys off fast with his speed and power and who was a high risk opponent ... who would bring in less money than Botha.

It's not hard to see why Botha got the breaks and why Sanders (who was 4-0 3ko over Botha in the amateurs) was overlooked.

 

I saw Botha training for the Lewis fight, with Abel Sanchez. I was there with a friend of mine that had over 200 amateur fights, a short pro career, and had managed, trained, and promoted fighters. We honestly thought that Sanchez was trying to get Botha killed; what he was telling him to do and what they were working on was a suicide mission against a guy with a right hand like Lewis had.
That was in Big Bear. The 'gym' that everybody used at that time was a corner of a health club with a ring about 4 inches above floor level, with one heavy bag and one speed bag. Shane Mosley and his people had just finished using the area.