Shavers, although I can see Botha being competitive. Botha never seemed to be able to win the big one. I think his best performance was his draw against Shannon Briggs, which I think he probably should have gotten the decision even though Briggs dropped him. Shavers just a better class of fighter and awesome power.
Excellent fight... Most casual fans will probably pick Shavers by easy KO, but I think Botha could be very awkward and cause a lot of problems for Shavers.. Botha doesn't have the power to hurt Shavers, but I could see him outworking Shavers over 12 rounds
I'm confident that Earnie would have detonated something atomic on Fran's chin before 8 rounds elapses. Botha would have been pretty far ahead on pts when his well known sloppiness and inattention to defense took over.
I see no reason prime Shavers isn't better than a completely shot Tyson, and quite likely takes Botha out pretty much the same way.
Shavers for me, inside the distance. I don't think Botha was classy or elusive enough to avoid Shavers' bombs and I don't think he could take many of them once they land. Not entirely relevant to the OP's question, but I watched Shavers-Norton recently, Shavers looked pretty awesome in there. In his autobiography, Earnie said that the Norton fight was one of only 5 or 6 times in his career where he put it all together; said he felt great in camp, in the dressing room beforehand, throughout his preparation. I think Earnie in that form would likely have blasted out a lot of guys who would normally rank above him in all time HW lists.
I think Botha gives him trouble and pulls ahead on points. Then between rounds 6-8 Shavers finds the mark and stops him
Botha being sold short here. He had skills and guts and enough pop in his right hand to hurt Shavers. Shavers by KO 11.
