This an article i found. and i am hoping the rematch can now be made. We know the tickets can be sold. Well a couple of thousand anyway. We also now they can put on a good fight. Perhaps this is why it has all gone cold on the Botha trail??? The December 9th fight between 48-year-old Evander Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KO’s) and 38-year-old journeyman Sherman Williams (34-11-2, 19 KO’s) has been canceled, according to Dan Rafael. The fight, which was supposed to have taken place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, had already been postponed twice on November 5th and November 12th. There’s no reason given why the fight has been canceled, but the previous cancellations were due to poor ticket sales. Holyfield last fought in April, defeating 42-year-old Francois Botha by an 8th round stoppage. Holyfield hadn’t fought before that since losing a controversial 12 round majority decision to WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev in December 2008. Holyfield entertains the goal of sticking around long enough to unify the four heavyweight titles. However, it seems almost impossible for Holyfield to achieve his goal due to his faded skills, his infrequent fights, and his lack of success when he’s been given chances to fight for titles against beatable past heavyweight champions Sultan Ibragimov and Valuev. Holyfield still has power and might have a small chance if he could get WBA heavyweight champion David Haye to fight him, but the chances of that happening are remote. IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko recently said that he would never fight Holyfield because he has too much respect for him. Wladimir’s brother, WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko likely feels the same way as Wladimir and probably won’t be giving Holyfield a shot at his title. If Holyfield wants to fight for one of the titles, he’s going to have to work his way to the mandatory spot by fighting his way through the top contenders to get to that spot. The problem for Holyfield is that he doesn’t look good enough to beat any of the top heavyweight contenders at this point in his career.
Well after weeks of no news on the Botha front i have come across this piece of news. Which to me is very interesting indeed as now it looks as though he will finally going to fight in England again and i can finally watch live. Bring on Harrison, Williams, Chisora, McDermott and Fury! I really hope this happens before its too late for Botha. I think he would deffo have too much for most of the British fighters out there..... London based promoter Mickey Helliet has become the exclusive European agent for 23 South African professional boxers including former IBF and WBF heavyweight world champion Francois Botha. Botha nicknamed the “White Buffalo” has been in the ring with the likes of Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis and Helliet is already lining up his new charge for a heavyweight showdown in Europe and possibly the UK. The Londoner said, “Francois has boxed at the highest level and is still a capable and dangerous fighter with a recent win against Timo Hoffman and a draw against hot German based Cuban Pedro Carrion. Helliet who currently manages over 40 UK based boxers will certainly be busy after taking on this latest crop. “I’m looking forward to working with them and making some good fights with them, many of them could qualify for Commonwealth title fights and so I will be looking for them to target that title ” Other big names include super middleweight WBF champion William Gare, bantamweight WBF champion Lbubalo Msutu as well as Light middleweight WBF champion Bongani Mwelase who fought Lovemore N’dou in his last outing and now has his sights set on a meeting with Manchester based Commonwealth king Craig Watson. The full list of South African boxers now represented by Helliet is as follows; Heavyweight Francois Botha, Heavyweight Anton Nel, Cruiserweight Zack Mwekasse, Cruiserweight Alex Mbaya, Super-middleweight William Gare, Super-middleweight Roland Francis, Super-middleweight Kgotso Motau, Welterweight Bongani Mwelase, Welterweight Gerald Nekhubvi, Lightweight Kgotla Baeti, Lightweight Zolani Marali, Featherweight Sabelo Jubatha, Featherweight Matima Molefe, Featherweight Malibongwe Toba, Super bantamweight Oscar Chauke, Bantamweight Lbubalo Msutu, Bantamweight Bongani Mahlangu, Super-flyweight Themba Joyi, Super-flyweight Bongani Mhlangu, Light-flyweight Shamila Kortman, Light-flyweight Wele Yekose. Helliet is also the exclusive European agent for Brazilian heavyweight Raphael Zumbano
A Bit of speculation but as Commonwealth heavyweight champ is Chisora and Now that Chisora v klitschko fight is off. Could this be the beginnings of a Chisora v Botha fight? Cant say i have seen much of Chisora so i have no idea if this possible fight is a good idea for either of them but at their respective ages and times in their careers it seems like a good match? Any thoughts? How do you think the fight would go down?
I highly doubt that Chisora would fight Botha, as Francois is both high risk (despite his age) and low reward. If they were to fight however, I see Botha doing well against Chisora but in the end, youth would win out and Chisora would take a close decision.
This is another snippet from the WBF website that i have copied. Not sure if they mean Botha is fighting Zumbano for the highly regarded "International title" or they just both feature on the bill. Anyway this seems fairly concrete that it will happen. But whatever the case Botha needs to get his butt in gear and fight some people. Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield kicks off the year and will be defending his world title against Sherman 'The Tank' Williams in January in West Virginia with a further fight scheduled for the first quarter of the year. Brazil will be hosting the WBF International Heavyweight title fight with Raphael Zumbano and Francois Botha in April with two women’s world titles scheduled for the same show. South Africans William Gare and Lubabalo Msuthu are scheduled to defend in March, while up and coming superstar Matima Molefi will have a crack at the vacant featherweight title at the end of March.
Not sure if anyone Still interest or not But the bout between Frans Botha and Raphael Zumbano seems to be taking place for sure although not on boxrec. I have read a few news articles that it is taking place in Brazil and that the president of the WBF has confirmed this. The winner supposedly getting a shot at Holyfield or i am presuming just at the WBF title as i cant see holyfield wanting to defend against either! i know nothing about Zumbano but his record looks mediocre. Botha needs to win this and convincingly or he should hang them up!
I would like to see Botha retire on a good note. I thought he was going to knock off Holyfield but he got sloppy. Maybe he takes him in a rematch. He just has to dedicate himself to conditioning.
Hey what more could we ask for? Botha vs Fury. I cant wait for this one and being in england i can finally watch the man live! My opinion is it could go either way. Botha is going to use all his cheeky sly moves and he needs to! Also again he needs to be in good shape for this and if he is i think he could school Fury. This fight could go all the way with both seeming to have stamina problems. How does everyone else see this one going down? Im going with Botha by points but will ne close.
Here are some of Botha comments taken from Sky Sports! This old man is coming to England to give him a boxing lesson," said Botha. "He is a young up and coming star in the UK but look at who he's fought and look at who I've fought - and hopefully the UK will have a great fight as long as it lasts. I hear that Tyson is a good fella and maybe I'll share a beer with him after he wakes up from the knockout the White Buffalo is going to impose upon him."
Gonna go with the Buffalo all the way, everyday. If he comes in even better shape than the holyfield fight, like say...240-245, then he stands a great chance at outpointing Fury. This fight all comes down to how good of shape Botha can get in. Train hard Francois. We are all rooting for you.
TYSON FURY'S bid to fight Frans Botha has been KO'd by British boxing bosses. The unbeaten Manchester heavyweight, 22, and his promoter Mick Hennessy last week announced a February 19 date at Wembley Arena. But BBBC officials had already refused to sanction South African Botha, 42, fighting in the UK fearing he would get badly hurt. Secretary Robert Smith said: "I don't know why the fight was announced."