Francois Botha Youtube Videos
Francois Botha Bio
Francois Botha (born September 28, 1968, in Witbank, Mpumalanga), also known as Frans Botha, is a South African boxer, nicknamed the "White Buffalo".
Since his days as a contender came to an end in 2002, an aged Botha has competed in numerous kickboxing and mixed martial arts events.
Boxing career
Early career
Botha has had a relatively distinguished career as a heavyweight boxer, having fought several world heavyweight champions including Mike Tyson, Shannon Briggs, Axel Schulz, Michael Moorer, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. Botha suffered a fifth round knockout to Mike Tyson, in a fight he was leading on all three scorecards until the knockout.
Botha had a victory in 1995 against Germany's Axel Schulz to win the IBF heavyweight Championship, but later tested positive for the steroid nandrolonehe and his camp claimed to be prescribed by a doctor for an arm injury. The result of the fight was then changed to a "No Contest" and the IBF do not recognize Botha as former champion, although Botha was introduced as a former champ in every single professional boxing contest he has engaged in since.
"The White Buffalo" bounced back with a courageous effort with Michael Moorer for the IBF crown on the undercard of Mike Tyson's first contest with Evander Holyfield. Moorer knocked him out in the twelfth round. This eventually led to fights with Mike Tyson, Shannon Briggs, and heavyweight title showdowns with Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. Botha came up on the short end via knockout in both of those encounters for the heavyweight title.
Four months after the Klitschko fight, Botha fought contender Clifford Etienne, and knocked him down twice, but was denied a victory and received a majority draw with two judges scoring it 94-94 and one judge scoring it 95-93 in favor of Botha. This was in Etienne's hometown.
Comeback
In July 2007, Botha returned to boxing with a unanimous decision victory over Bob Mirovic in a fight held in South Africa. Botha dominated the fight with two judges holding Botha won all twelve rounds and one judge ruling he won ten of twelve. The bout was for the interim WBF World Heavyweight title.
On February 6, 2009, Botha beat Ron "Rocky" Guerrero by unanimous decision for the vacant WBF heavyweight title in South Africa. He successfully defended his WBF title against Timo Hoffmann on May 15, 2009 in Germany, winning the fight by split decision.
Botha was scheduled to box Joey Abell on 27 March 2010 (postponed from the earlier date of 16 January 2010) at the Uganda Nelson Mandela Memorial Stadium in Kampala, Uganda. On January 10, the World Boxing Foundation executive has decided to vacate the WBF World Heavyweight Title due to Botha not defending within the agreed time limit.
On April 10, 2010 Botha lost via knockout in the 8th round to Evander Holyfield at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Holyfield won the WBF heavyweight title for his victory.
Since then, Botha has won against former undefeated South African prospect Flo Simba, He then fought Michael Grant for the vacant WBF heavyweight title and was leading on the scorecards when he was knocked out with a long right hand from Grant with seconds remaining in the contest.
Kickboxing and mixed martial arts career
From 2003-2006 Botha participated several times in the kickboxing combat sport, K-1. His current K-1 record is 4-11, with two wins coming against K-1/Kickboxing legends Jerome Le Banner and Peter Aerts. Botha's final K-1 match was a 3 round decision loss to Jorgen Kruth on May 20, 2006 in a K-1 superfight in Stockholm, Sweden.
Botha also had one mixed martial arts fight. On December 31, 2004 he lost to Yoshihiro Akiyama via an armbar submission in the first round.
On October 14, Botha beat Espedito Da Silva by KO at K-1 Rules Africa Bomba-Yaa 2006.
Botha made a return to kickboxing in 2008. On March 30, 2008, Botha defeated muay thai kickboxer Kaoklai Kaennorsing at The KHAN in Seoul, Korea by decision. He lost to French kickboxer "Le Gentleman" Gregory Tony at WFC 6 on September 27, 2008 in Bulgaria.
Professional boxing record
Kickboxing record
Mixed martial arts record
External links
- Professional boxing record for Francois Botha from BoxRec
- Professional MMA record for Francois Botha from Sherdog
- Profile at K-1
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