Prime Frans Botha - where does he rank among ATG Heavies?

I'm not bothad

 

Criminally underrated here.

History will bear witness to his greatness and my estimation shall be endorsed by those wiser.

 

Correct pronunciation is boor-ta. The "o" is not the o sound as in boat. Trust me on this

 

:roflatschatsch

In what world?

The Duke woulda decapitated Botha.

 

..

 

Morrison would get worse results than taking rounds off Tyson, taking prime Briggs to a controversial draw, and beating prime versions of Shultz and Mike Hunter if given Botha's schedule.

 

Botha (BOOR-tahhahaha) was the perfect foil to take out Tommy.

Then, he would have drunk him under the table and out hookered him. Boer Pride.

 

:good

That is about where i have him.

 

You don't suck if you're beating Schultz and giving the likes of Tyson and Moorer hell. He was unlucky not to get the decision against Briggs. Botha was certainly better than someone like Ruiz that's for sure......

 

For the record I don't think he sucked. I just think that there have been at least 336 heavyweights that were even better!:thumbsup

 

He's nowhere near being an ATG but he surely would have been a contender in any era.

 

A lower level contender, a gatekeeper?

 

Yeah!

 

You might be right.
I think he was arguably worthy of a place just inside the top 10 for a few months after the Schulz fight, based on Schulz being "robbed" against Foreman, etc.
But then Botha-Schulz was ruled an NC anyway, due to Botha being on steroids, and it's debatable whether Schulz was ever worthy of a top 10 spot himself.
Also, some thought Schulz was robbed against Botha too, though it's been 20 years since I saw that fight, so I can't remember.

There's simply nothing else of note on Botha's record. Draws with Briggs and Etienne, who were fringe contenders at best too.

 

:good

I think he's being under-rated here. I'd say that he was round about 15th for his era. No world beater, but a hard nights work even for a top guy. Also, let's not foret: 24 years in boxing! That's a goddamn lifetime for a boxer.