francois botha how good was he

I always liked Botha. He was tough and very game, not the most athletic guy, but quite physically rugged the way a lot of SA heavyweights were, which made him a tough night's work for most. Had a kind of smothering style without resorting to being overly dirty. You could put him down fairly easily, but he was hard to put away, and wouldn't stop coming at you with endless one twos while yelling "HA! HA!"

 

This is how I've always seen him. a better version of John Ruiz who didn't need to resort to the same tactics.

 

Didn't have the power of those two. But he was a much harder worker and as such could occasionally take top level heavyweights close unlike those two despite lacking the physical tools that they had. Briggs barring the unfortunate 12th round implosion of White Wolf should have lost every single fight against every fringe and world class boxer that he stepped in with. That includes 49 year old Foreman and Botha. It's unbelievable that Briggs was able to remain relevant for as long as he did. Botha>> Etienne and Briggs

 

Hall was also very good at king-hitting other footballers who couldn't defend themselves. The guy was a coward and an overhyped thug and even though SBW is very average, seeing him belt the Christ out of Hall was joyful.

On Botha though, pretty tough guy and certainly no chump. Went 8 with Wlad and fought a draw with Briggs. He was 45 or something when he fought SBW so that can't be held against him. I see the question asked about how he'd have gone against Chisora and I think that's an excellent comparison, not in styles but in relative talent and their respective spots in the HW division at the time both guys fought.

 

He was too dangerous for Hearn to put AJ in with after the Usyk fights, that's for sure.

 

Not only that.... He only "won" because of a corrupt ref protecting him when was out on his feet, and behind the scenes corruption that saw the fight reduced from a 12 to 10 rounder without Bothas knowledge. Karma came back to bite Williams though, as a nearly 50 year Mark Hunt ended up taking him to the cleaners. That was great to watch lol.

 

Spot on. I can’t stand the dirty *****.

People carried on like he was some lethal weapon but there’d have been half a dozen contemporary footballers who would have beaten hell out of him in a real fight. He was a coward punching arsewipe. I laughed out loud when Sonny Bill wiped the floor with the gronk.

 

I looked up his AFL rap sheet today. The guy is a grub. And to think the AFL allowed him to play in a GF after smacking a guy 50 metres off the ball.

Even more respect for SBW's deeds now.

 

In his prime very good, genuine world level, just not quite good enough to be a really strong title contender. I suppose properly strong gatekeeper level.

I am one of the few non Kiwis to have watched the 'fight' with SBW, it was fairly hilarious, horribly out of shape and in his mid 40s he had SBW all ends up until the ludicrous ending.

 

Tysons KO of him still one of my favourites to watch. The thud as it lands

 

Prime Botha while not world class, was a class above Chisora

 

Late 90s, early 2000s he was a proper fringe contender type level fighter.

Comparable to a Joseph Parker level kinda guy.

Couldnt beat the top 5 type guys, but in the pack behind them.

 

If one goes by who really won a fight instead of the usual robberies, Axel Schulz beat Foreman, Botha, and Moorer in three straight fights.