Great win for him in that period of time imho. Botha was a crafty fighter, a lot better than some give him credit for.
this fight proved that Tyson was finished but still dangerous. Botha won every round of this bad fight. weak fight and good ko
Stop polluting this forum man - can we just have enough of the same carousel of topics, HWs from the 60s-90s need a break so do the FAB4 - There’s like 30 names discussed here routinely... I’ll give you something interesting tho, Botha scored his best win in kickboxing not the Marques of Queensbury. This content is protected
It was unanimously acknowledged as a bad performance for Tyson. But credit to Botha, who showed good hand and footspeed, swiftness in his movement, underrated timing and no fear. The KO was among the top 3 of Mike Tyson's best KO ever, a fearsome shot.
This was an interesting point in Tyson post bite career. Think this was his first fight with Tommy Brooks. They seemed to be trying to get him back to basics, but not sure how at that age he could fight like he did in his early 20s. I think that was the problem for Tyson post prison, he couldn't adjust his style effectively as he aged. Once he lost that movement, combination punching and timing, he just became a small heavyweight with not great stamina, a bit of speed and power, he could be picked off. With Botha it looked a bit soon for Brooks to do much, as Tyson actually looked a lot better after this fight, for that period under Brooks. He looked very ring rusty and in danger of losing , his power saved him there. I'm not sure he was done but he was never beating the top guys at this point. I'd say against Lou Savarese he probably performed his best despite having a melt down, he also looked in his best shape since Holyfield 2, he didn't look like that again. Tyson was clearly done mentally anyway, in an ideal world he probably should have retired, he didn't seem to want to be there after Holyfield comprehensively beat him in that first fight. That fight ended Tyson I think.
I was 18 when this fight took place. I remember watching in a pub that was at capacity and putting a bet on Botha at around +500 or $6 in our lingo. I was the only one in that place cheering for the White Buffalo. I looked like a boxing genius for 4.5 rounds
Great post. I also think that Tyson showed better fundamentals under Brooks that at any other point of his post prison career. The Norris fight - as short as it was - is a very good example of how Brooks had Tyson working at stepping off his shot and attacking at various angles. His jab and timing also looked a lot better. Unfortunately, he took a year off in 2001, ruining his consistancy and started gain weight.
it was sad at the end, he seemed to again give it another shot with Freddie Roach, he actually sounded quite motivated in interviews, dropping the gangster attitude, focusing on training. He even looked ok for a couple of rounds with Danny Williams nearly taking him out but it was all too late, his body fell apart on him.
