Botha to meet Barnardo in WBF fight
Sapa
Posted Tue, 08 Jan 2002

Francois Botha, the White Buffalo of Pretoria, will meet Cape Town's Mike Barnardo for the WBF world heavyweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday, February 23.

The fight was announced jointly on Monday in Las Vegas and Johannesburg by co-promoters Billionaire Entertainment Group and World Sport Promotions.

"We've done it and its the first all South African clash for a world title in the gambling capital," says Thinus Strydom, head of World Sport Promotions.

Working with the head of the US group, John Taylor, Strydom has sealed the fight which is aimed at breaking Barnardo into the international boxing spotlight.

"I've said all along he is as good as the likes of WBA champion John Ruiz and he is ready to prove it," he said. "Remember, I was the man who propelled Botha on to the US stage, where he has beconme a multimillionaire in US dollar terms, and has been in the top rank of world heavyweight boxing for the past decade.

"What we did for him we will do for Barnardo. It all depends on how he will approach the fight and which he has to win."

Barnardo and trainer Steve Kalakoda are at present en route back home from Japan where Barnardo has been competing in a kickboxing event. He is an established favourite among Japanese audiences.

On their return they will work out in Cape Town prior to flying to the US on January 19, where Barnardo has arranged to train in Mike Tyson's private gymnasium in Ohio.

Botha Vs Mike............. OK!

That is some exciting news. As much as I like Mike Bernado, I can not see that he can defeat Botha in a boxing fight, but I hope for the best for the great Bernado.

What if Mike Bernado gets KO in the K-1 Rising in the end of January, is he then allowed to fight only one month latter?

Botha was fighting a great fight against Mike Tyson, before he got KO. As I see it, Bortha is better technical fighter than Bernado, both Mike Bernado has a harder and more powerful punch, so I think this could turn out to be an ok fight.

What about Botha Vs Mark Hunt in a WBF boxing fight?

Isn't Botha a fictional caracter in South Africa from Bryce Courtenays Power of One? A boxer too. :)

Botha is good but my money is on Mike for the KO. As long as Bernardo doesn't try to box with Botha he'll be ok. He's got to try and slug it out, that's his strength.

I have respect for Botha, but my money is on Bernado cause he fights for the Lord.

i dont think bernardo has a chance against botha. botha wimped out against
mike tyson, but he is a legitimate top 20 boxer. being the best boxer
in the k-1 doesnt mean you are a real world class boxer. its a big adjustment
to go 10 rounds of boxing from 3-5 rounds of kickboxing, isnt it? who is
the best boxer mikey has ever faced, peter mcneely? ;)
oliver, i think theyre assuming bernardo will only have to put in a round
or two of easy work against his opponenet in k-1 rising!!!

david,
you took the words out of my mouth. who knows what bernardo will be like after the fifth round. i don't want to compare him to butterbean but there is a difference between being the king of the four rounders and a real boxer.

this fight could go any way. mike could win in one or choke in one. he might surprise the world and box well or he might run out of gas as expected. i have long given up on betting on bernardo.

who is the lord?

Jesus is Lord! No further comment.

Please leave the religous comments out of here.

I think Botha should win easily.

never heard of him. does he play baseball?

I can't stand boxers like Botha. They rarely come in conditioned well enough to be truly sharp but they are just tough enough to drag fights into the later rounds where fatigue from hitting them wearies their more talented opponents enough for the Bothas and their ilk to snatch a win. He reminds me of Scott LeDoux and George Chuvalo before him. These are tough guys but not tough enough to put in the time to really learn their craft. No jabs, no smooth combinations, no defense, and no snap in their punches. Just stumble forward and get hit in the head while firing crude clubbing punches.(OK he fooled Tyson for a couple rounds by actually slipping punches but it was the novelty that gave "Iron Mike" trouble not the skill)

If Barnardo wants to make a big splash he couldn't have a better hand picked opponent. He will actually look slick compared to "The White Buffalo".
However, much better boxers than Barnardo have been taken to the limit by Botha(Axel Schultz,Henry Akinwande) and if Barnardo can't cut him badly in the first four rounds, then rounds 7-10 will be hell for the K-1 crossover.

OSU!

Barnardo will pave the way for the Kiwi's, the Ray Sefo will fight him.
Imagine that 2 K-1 Superstars fighting for the World Heavyweight Title of the World, it'll either bring honesty from K-1 to boxing or the corruption from boxing to K-1, watch out K-1, Don King is lurking out there, ha ha ha

I think that Botha will win on KO or TKO before the end of the 5th round.

As Felix and David Lucas say, there is a big difference between being the king of the four rounders and a real boxer. Mike Bernado is a very good boxer, but that is when "we" compare him against the other fighters in the K-1. Botha is a top pro boxer, and Mike is not. Bernado has never been boxing 10 rounds against a world class boxer, so unless he hit Botha with a lucky punch early in the fight, I think that he will run out of gas, and then he is an easy target for Botha. I am affraid that Mike Bernado is in for big shock and some big pain.

nvs:

So you think that Jesus is the Lord! And here I thought that he was Kancho Ishii….. LOL!!!

are wbf title fights only 10 rounds? if so, why?

is lord his first name or last name? is he a promoter for bernardo? if so does he belong to billionaire entertainment group or world sport promotions?

I've only seen Botha fight in Vegas (last year) against some nobody. It was summertime, about 105 F in the ring (that's like 46 C for you NATO globalists). I've never seen a crappier, more unconditioned boxer in my life. All he did was throw a pathetic, uncoordinated jab for 10 rounds and run. Sometimes he'd charge with an akward overhand right, face competely turned and unprotected like in a street fight.

felix i dont know what length wbf title fights are, maybe 12 rounds?
who is the best boxer bernardo has ever fought?
didnt ray sefo get knocked out by a non- world class boxer?

he knocked out mcneely in 40 seconds and seemed pretty proud of that. i guess that is the peak of his career.

the guy who ray fought was a guy who had a lot of promise but slacked off for his whole career. kind of like a buster douglas or greg page type. ray thought he was going to get an easy fight but the guy got him. ray's fault. i'm sure ray would like to forget 2001. especially when hunt is spending his money.

Felix, I don't know if that is a correct analysis of Sefo's opponent. He was a guy with about 11 or 12 pro fights and I think only one loss. He was a pretty good amateur boxer, I think had only been a pro for maybe 2 years when he fought Sefo.

Didn't Butterbean knock out Peter McNeeley in one or two rounds? Doesn't seem like it is any big deal to knock out McNeeley. If you can't dance around Butterbean a little bit and avoid his punches then you probably ain't the world's greatest boxer.

105 degrees in the ring? I wouldn't be fighting real hard either!! How many rounds you gonna last in that type of heat if you are pushing it real hard? I've actually heard that Botha is a hard worker in the gym. Just from what I read and hear from people, don't know personally.

I was surprised when I saw Botha at the weigh in for the Lewis fight. Compared to when I seen him against Tyson it looked like he had worked pretty hard. He didn't last long though.

legkick,
you may be right. i'm going on memory and rumors. i trust neither. hehe.

as for the butterbean win over mcneely. the referee stopped the fight in the last second of the first round.

referee: stop [waves off fight]
bell: ding ding.
mcneely: WTF.
butterbean: yipee!!

didnt someone post an article a short while back about "fixed fights"
whoever the interviewee was mentioned mecneely as being a professional
"fall guy".

what a memory. yeah i posted that thread. the title is "i hate fakes" if you feel like going through the archive.

if i remember correctly, mcneely had a bloated record to make it look like he was a decent contender. i'm not sure it said he took dives.

yes, that sounds right. maybe butterbean against mike bernardo would be a fair
match!!

I've just seen a tape of Ray Sefo vs Chester Hugh fight. I'm not saying it was a lucky shot or trying to make excuses for Ray, but he got careless, and you can't make mistake like that in heavyweight division, especially in that level. Chester threw a lazy (distance measuring jab). Ray casually blocked it, and didn't see the fast overhand right which followed that slow jab. The right cross connected. I tell you, that right cross is as good as any right cross you would ever seen in boxing that would have knock many opponents out cold. However, Hugh followed straight away with a big left hook which I believed the punch that really hurt Ray. Ray was also unlucky to get trapped against the rope, and Hugh managed to lands 7 more direct punches before Ray went outside the ring.

Right from the beginning it looked like Ray looked confidence and perhaps wanted to end the fight early. It showed as in the first 30 seconds of the fight before Hugh got him, Ray had already threw half a dozen jabs and about a dozen power shots. That is a lot of punches in any weight division. That fight was a stepping stone for both fighters. If Ray had won, than he could of score more luxuries contract with the America Presents. However, I think 10 Goose (Goosen brothers who used to run the America Presents) signed up Chester Hugh. It was bad luck for Ray, but I think from now on, you'll see Hugh gets easier opponents and build up more fights and eventually get a shot later on in the next couple of years or even less.

When fighters (Hugh) like that gets to sign up with big promoters, they would look after him and nuture his career, build his record and confidence for bigger fights. That's explains why he had that lost earlier in his career. I don't know what his chin like as Ray hadn't connect a good shot (beside, I haven't seen any video of him before), but at 6' 5" with good hand speed is very marketable. He didn't have a proper team to look after him before. I know Ray really wants to fight him again, but the chance of that is slim. They would be looking at easier opponents for him from now on until a title shot pops up.

David Lucas, Chester Hugh is a world class boxer. Mark my word. In the next 12 - 18 months, you will hear more of him. However, I could be wrong when I said they would give him easier opponents because they (10 Goose) are new company and probably a bit impatients to get fihters to make a name quickly for themselves. Anyway I hope they won't rush him up the ladder too early.