SBW survives late White Buffalo onslaught
8 Feb 2013
Sonny Bill Williams beat Francois Botha on points in Brisbane after the boxing bout was controversially reduced from 12 to 10 rounds during the fight.
The former All Blacks centre was hanging on by a thread in what turned out to be the last round and would almost certainly have lost if another two rounds had been allowed.
The judges awarded the fight to Williams 97-91, 98-94 and 97-91.
‘I love Sonny Bill, but this is bullshit,’ Botha said afterwards. ‘I beat him hands free!’
Earlier, Wallabies flyhalf Quade Cooper won his first professional fight in a first-round knockout of Australian Barry Dunnett.
There will be repeats of both fights on SuperSport at 3pm (SS5) and 7pm (SS1).
945 Comments
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10 Feb 2013, 07:11 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-679:
hehehe… that may be the case…
i don’t do it that often, especially when blogging, as i try to give my own thoughts instead of regurgitating those of other people…
you clearly have a lot more experience searching for material…!
10 Feb 2013, 07:13 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-680:
your guess is that the other fight was the same…? hardly makes it fact…
so we can find proof of one fight being shortened BEFORE the fight… which is hardly the same as what appeared to happen in this fight with everyone seemingly caught by surprise mid fight…
but for an identifiable pattern to be established at least two fight should have been unequivocally rigged…
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-683:
so i’m a windpomp…?
oh the sweet irony…!!
so you say i’m a windpomp if i “think a bookie would say something like that for no reason..?… these people are in the business of making money out of this stuff.”
are you serious…? bookies…? paragons of virtue…? wouldn’t do anything questionable to tilt the odds in their favour…??
very funny bakks… you should do stand-up…!!
so i guess those poor old honest bookies had their arms twisted and their heads beaten with bats by all those dastardly cricketers lead by hansie, who forced them to participate in match fixing…? guess the mobile records were the other way around… instead of bookies phoning cricketers and other sportsmen… the cricketers and sportsmen have been hounding those poor innocent butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-their-mouths bookies who are just out to do an solid and honest hard days work…!!
okay bakks.. if you say so…
10 Feb 2013, 07:27 am
” God willing, After i have a good NRL season
I’ll gladly rematch Mr Botha. Even in South
Africa..” – SBW…
10 Feb 2013, 07:28 am
okay so at least one other fight was changed…
although before the fight and it looks like the fighters both knew about it before hand…
so this would be the second (or sixth if we “do a bakks” and extrapolate that over all five previous fights) occasion
and i will concede it does indeed look like sonny’s manager is a piece of work who operates on shady paths off the straight and narrow…
greedy nefarious people all over the world in all walks of like have manipulated and ‘guided’ ordinary good people into doing strange and bad and even evil things…
perhaps sbw has put too much faith in nasser… the seeming fact that nasser has coerced some of his charges into changing religion would certainly indicate he is a cultish-type personality…
but i still do think it’s unfair to tar sbw with the same brush until… and if… it is ever proven he knew about and condoned these things beforehand…
streuli got the whole bok team to engage in activities they would never normally do so… many castigate streuli for abusing his position and forcing players to do his bidding… hardly anyone blames the players themselves…
so until more solid evidence proves sbw was a willing and enthusiastic participant i still believe it is wrong to judge and find him guilty before then…
innocent until proven guilty…
but that’s just me…
10 Feb 2013, 07:33 am
@ufo-704:
Whether it was a prior agreement or not to reduce the length of this bout, it is obvious that not all parties were adequately informed.
Particularly the judges. Who I reckon should’ve been informed.
They thought they were still judging a 12 rounder.
10 Feb 2013, 07:33 am
@Angostura-695:
very gracious of you angostura… respect…
i also need to apologise to you and david for the tone of my posts… it was unnecessary…
david i’ve ‘known’ and liked and respected for years on keo and his comment did not deserve my subsequent posts… i misread his intention there..
apologies david…
i’ve got to dash too… got a long hike today…
so will check back later this evening or tomorrow…
cheers….
10 Feb 2013, 07:40 am
@I am a stormer-705:
absolutely agree with that stormer..
and said so in my first post on the subject…
next time…
10 Feb 2013, 07:43 am
SBW fight not officially sanctioned by WBA
3 News online staff
Claims have been made that the WBA title
belt won by Sonny Bill Williams in Brisbane
last night is not a WBA sanctioned belt.
According to Brad Vocale from the WBA Pan
Asian Boxing Association, the belt was made
by a member of the Queensland branch of
the Boxing Federation.
Speaking to Fox Sports News, Vocale doubts
the belt Williams was presented with after
his win was sanctioned by the WBA.
“I haven’t confirmed this at all – the
championship belt put around Sonny Bill
Williams’ waist last night was not in fact a
genuine WBA Championship belt,” Vocale
says.
“In fact it was made by a member of
the Queensland branch of the Boxing
Federation.
“This thing has happened before with the
same promoters and the same regulatory
body,” Vocale adds.
Vocale says he is now worried about the
state of boxing in Australia and says there
was no WBA official at the fight.
“I despise the fact it’s given a black eye to
boxing again,” Vocale says.
“There was certainly no WBA official there
last night.
“In my view they’ve defrauded the fight-
paying public of Australia.”
Controversy over the fight erupted when it
was cut short from 12 rounds to 10.
At that stage of the fight, Williams was out
on his feet. He was forced to hang on to his
opponent, and many watching the fight feel
he would not last another round, let alone
two.
On-air commentators,
the TAB, pay-per-view
customers and media
throughout the world
were astounded when
the scheduled 12-round
fight was stopped at the
end of the 10th round.
Even the on-air graphics
heralded the fight as
being 12 rounds of three
minutes.
Commentary on the
broadcast also said
prior to the fight: “Twelve rounds is the
journey”.
“I thought it was going for 10, just like the
New Zealand title I fought for,” Williams
reportedly said after the fight.
“Our whole preparation was for 10 rounds.
“I pride myself on doing everything above
board. I don’t have a bad bone in my
body.”
Botha’s promoter Thinus Strydon has since
come out saying he chose not to tell his
boxer the fight was more than 10 rounds,
but they did agree on the day of the fight to
the distance being 10 rounds, according to
The Courier-Mail.
But Botha claims he did not know this.
“It’s bulls**t,” he says. “You can’t do it.
There are rules and regulations. It was in
the press conference, on the programmes –
a WBA 12-round international fight. You
cannot change it.
“I’m very much disappointed. I prepared
myself for 12 rounds,” Botha tells
RadioLIVE.
“Last night I was chopping trees, every
round I’m chopping him down y’know,
saving myself for the last three rounds,
building it up and always finishing strong.”
If it was as Strydom says and Botha did not
know, then the promoter has made a very
big error in judgement.
Botha is adamant that the referee, Tony
Kettlewell, also told him that the fight was
12 rounds.
10 Feb 2013, 07:53 am
@Transformation-708:
Somethings fishy downunder.
10 Feb 2013, 08:43 am
Newspaper commentary is unanimous here in NZ…….the fight was a farce and does not deserve to be on the record books.
Sonny Bill showed that he can box a bit, not much but a bit. But the farcical situation around the length of the fight asks a lot of questions of the promoters.
10 Feb 2013, 10:01 am
Boxing: Mystery man cut bout short
It was the eighth round. An unidentified man loomed up next to Francois Botha’s corner man, Hardy Mileham. The fight against Sonny Bill Williams was 10 rounds, not 12, he said.
Mileham quickly told his fighter: “They’ve cut it down to 10 you’ve got to open up. It’s make or break.” During the 10th round, the ring announcer told the crowd there were 90 seconds left in the fight.
“Sure enough, this was match fixing,” an angry Botha said in his dressing room afterwards. “How can you cut 15 seconds [from the final round]? How can you cut two rounds? That’s called match fixing.
“It’s a 12-round fight. This boy has never gone past six or seven rounds. So I’m going to get him. I was pacing myself, pacing myself to finish strong and boom, it didn’t happen.
“They were the two rounds I really needed to finish him off.
10 Feb 2013, 10:01 am
“We should protest it. How can you bend the rules, because he’s a superstar in rugby? He’s a superstar here, he should be winning, everyone wants him to win, his management. How can you bend the rules and cut it down? It’s unheard of, you can’t get away with it.”
The Australian newspaper reported that Australian National Boxing Federation vice-president Alan Moore, a ringside judge for the bout, had no idea it had been shortened.
“When the ring announcer said over the loud speaker that it was the last round, that was the first we [judges] knew of any change,” Moore was quoted as saying. “Any international title fight is meant to be fought over 12 three-minute rounds. I have no idea what happened.”
10 Feb 2013, 10:02 am
However, ANBF bout official John Hogg said yesterday that the reduction to 10 rounds had been agreed just before the bout began (see story, p6-7).
There was no doubt Williams won the fight on points, as scored over the 10 rounds. There seemed equally no doubt that a rampaging Botha – the ‘White Buffalo’ – would have won if, as everybody thought, the fight was over 12 rounds. Williams seemed almost out on his feet, so much so that there was some credence to be given to the claim that if the referee had stopped Williams from clinching and Botha had been able to move away, Williams would have fallen down.
Williams claimed the vacant WBA International heavyweight belt with a unanimous points decision over 44-year-old Botha at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre – but the majority of the 4000 crowd booed Williams out of the ring, after the fight went only 10 rounds.
10 Feb 2013, 10:04 am
There were also allegations that the final round was 15 SECONDS SHORT (THIS IS ABOUT CONSISTENT WITH THE TIME I MENTIONED TO POPPA WHEN WE DISCUSSED THIS, I SAID TO HIM THE CLOCK WAS ABOUT 2:43 WHEN THE BELL WAS RUNG), as Williams, who was out on his feet after a devastating late barrage from Botha, desperately clung on for what will now be seen as a dubious win.
Williams’ sixth and most impressive professional fight will be tarnished by the scenes in and out of the ring. Both men were deducted points by referee Tony Kettlewell – Botha in the ninth round for hitting after the break and Williams for holding in the 10th.
The New Zealand TAB has called for an inquiry. TAB spokesman Mark Stafford told Newstalk ZB the shedding of two rounds was unacceptable.
10 Feb 2013, 10:05 am
“Absolutely it was,” he said. “In fact, we went to great pains to double check and triple check that it was 12 rounds because [in] a Sonny Bill fight, this has happened before so we’re pretty annoyed about it.”
Botha suggested dark forces could be at work, saying the WBA must order a rematch to protect its integrity. There appeared to be no WBA representative at the bout.
Botha, who had a graze on his nose and a cut over his right eye, added: “I got screwed. He was out on his feet. All I had to do was push him away and he would have fallen down.
“I was chopping him down and one more round, bo! Timber and then, boom, he would have gone down!
10 Feb 2013, 10:06 am
“It’s bullshit, you can’t do it. There are rules and regulations. It was in the press conference, on the programmes; a WBA 12-round international fight. You cannot change it.
“He’s a big boy [but] he never hurt me. He had a good jab but he doesn’t do enough. I told him, because I talk always. I told [Williams] ‘listen, you’re showing your punches’.”
Williams appeared exhausted afterwards from the blows he took at the hands of a man who has fought 60 professional bouts and against the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
10 Feb 2013, 10:06 am
He claimed he thought it was a 10-round fight, just as his New Zealand Professional Boxing Association title fight was.
“My whole preparation was geared for 10 rounds,” he said. He also tweeted yesterday that both camps knew it was a 10-round affair.
“First morning after the fight it’s sinking in what a great night it was. We both knew it was a 10 rounder b4 the fight! WBA interntionalbelt!!,” he posted.
Earlier, his controversial manager Khoder Nasser was involved in a heated argument with the Botha camp in the South African’s dressing room. Storming down the corridor with the WBA belt over his shoulder, Nasser shouted at Botha and Mileham: “Who won the fight? You know who won the fight. Ah, wake up.”
10 Feb 2013, 10:06 am
Security staff were poised to intervene and the shouting and confusion continued until Nasser walked out.
Nasser said later: “My understanding was that it was a 10-rounder. Now if it was a 12-rounder, that’s just a total misunderstanding.”
Asked about the allegations the 10th round was short, he said: “I haven’t seen that but the TV will tell you. If you think that I’m dictating that bullshit, well you can check that out. From our side of the camp, we feel that there were a lot of things happening in the ring that were totally illegal.
10 Feb 2013, 10:07 am
“You saw it for yourself. Double-handed [punches] at the back of the head, hitting after the break. That was happening in the 10th round because the guy got desperate and very dirty.”
He added: “If there was a misunderstanding, it’s a misunderstanding. Sonny would have prepared totally different [for 12 rounds]. And Sonny wouldn’t have been like that in the last 30 seconds if he wasn’t hit in certain positions as well that were totally illegal.”
10 Feb 2013, 10:07 am
Botha said of his penchant for hitting with both hands behind Williams’ head: “You know what? It throws your opponent and it messes you up. Through the years, you learn this and I do it in a certain way so the ref doesn’t see it. You could see how dirty the fight was getting.”
Further muddying the already murky waters, Nasser said he wanted a WBA official at the fight but none could attend.
10 Feb 2013, 10:08 am
“The local commission would not allow any WBA officials,” he said.
When asked which commission he was referring to, given there was no authority in Queensland, Nasser asked him to do his own research, adding: “If you want to butt in, pick your words carefully.”
When asked why there were 12 ring cards at ringside, Nasser replied: “That’s normal.”
Pressed again about the timekeeping in the final round, he prefaced his departure with: “Who’s got the belt, mate? See you later.” APNZ
10 Feb 2013, 10:09 am
@ufo-701:
@ufo-702:
wow, so you’re gonna go down swinging, slugger….
10 Feb 2013, 10:12 am
Personally, I don’t see what all the anguish and outrage is about. Did anyone really take this fight seriously when it was first announced?
10 Feb 2013, 10:17 am
There are some good people in New Zealand. This from the NZ Herald:
Poll of the Day
10900–10950 votes
(Question?)
Do you think Sonny Bill Williams legitimately won his boxing match against Francois Botha last night?
Definitely. Even if the fight had extended to 12 rounds SBW would have won it. 6%
6%
Debatable. We’ll never really know. 30%
30%
No way. Francois Botha was just warming up. SBW would have been out for the count if the match was 12 rounds. 64%
64%
10 Feb 2013, 10:39 am
Forget the time and short rounds, in his prime Botha wasn’t very good. He is now a 44 year old short fat man and SBW couldn’t convinvingly beat him he should hang up his gloves SBW gets into the ring with a proper boxer he will be killed
10 Feb 2013, 11:02 am
Bakkies the way you are going on about this dumb boxing match is pathetic.
Give it a rest man, you are continually claiming top spot for the idiot of keo.
10 Feb 2013, 11:11 am
@FrenklyMuDeah-725:
Money Bin doesn’t have heart..you need heart to be a good boxer.
10 Feb 2013, 11:11 am
well you have made your opinion on the fight and SBW’s side known, Hurri.
10 Feb 2013, 11:23 am
And now Botha has just failed a drugs test.
What a ******* joke. Joke sport, joke participants
10 Feb 2013, 11:48 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-650: Hola Bakkies, any news on this yet?
10 Feb 2013, 11:50 am
lmao @ Hurri
10 Feb 2013, 11:53 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-728: Boxing: Botha failed drugs test before fight
10 February, 2013
Sonny Bill Williams’ opponent
Francois Botha failed a drugs test
before their controversial fight, it has
emerged.
Botha – a former heavyweight champion
who claimed he did not know his bout with
Williams was set down for 10 rounds -
tested positive for phentermine in his
system.
The 44-year-old submitted a urine sample
on Tuesday last week, the Sydney Morning
Herald said, and the test revealed the
presence of phentermine, a banned
stimulant.
It also showed traces of benzodiazepine, a
valium-type product. The drug test had now
been forwarded to the WBA’s headquarters
in Panama.
10 Feb 2013, 11:55 am
oh my
Botha caught doping again huh? this changes everything. he cheats before the fight no wonder he outlasted SBWs. he was doped up
but he has been a known drug cheat for years
http://mobile.news.com.au/sport/boxing-mma/francois-botha-test-positive-to-a-banned-substance-following-sonny-bill-williams-fight/story-fndkzthy-1226574876533
can’t wait to see Bakkies posting article after article about the cheating before the fight
Sone can only presume that Drugs in sport reaches every fabric of SA society. I do hope those giving it to Aussie about drugs in sport ear their humble pie quietly in the corner now
:lol; lets see Bakkies defend this now.
disgraceful.
10 Feb 2013, 11:57 am
@Transformation-732: This will not stop Bakkies.He will just brush it off as another Aussie/Kiwi conspiracy .
10 Feb 2013, 12:04 pm
where is kaksioek?
he was another very vocal about “trans-tasman lies”
I wonder what he says now about SA subterfuge and the need of SA sportsmen to take banned substances
gots to laugh, seems karma has come back and bitten the mosy bitter vocal “truthers”
as I sad the other day Bakkies, lets wait until the whole truth comes out.
now I can laugh and laugh and laugh, because Botha cheated BEFORE the fight was held.
eish
10 Feb 2013, 12:06 pm
@S_K-734: And he is right.Nothing but cheating filthy scum.
10 Feb 2013, 12:08 pm
@David-723: Boxing has lost its soul quite a long time back.What are we left with?Rugby,cricket players as well as 44-year-old fat boys fighting for titles.Not to forget two Ukranian brothers with the charisma of a wet rag.
10 Feb 2013, 12:09 pm
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-736: just had your hit of the roids bru?
seems the white “saviour” is nothing but a chemists pin cushion
seems they are also rife in your schools, that explains the mental retardation of people like yourself..
10 Feb 2013, 12:09 pm
@the curse-735: I wouldnt laugh to hard,names have not come out in the oz doping scandal and i bet there are going to be a few cheating keeeweeeees in there.They most probably got his urine sample mixed up with sbw as only one of them looks like he is on drugs and it sure aint botha.
10 Feb 2013, 12:10 pm
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-736: No,he is not.He is a paranoid person whose mind is clouded with dark forces most of the time.
10 Feb 2013, 12:11 pm
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-739: Botha got caught taking roids in 96 too
he is a known drug cheat
but then SA sport is not renowned for their honesty and their integrity
10 Feb 2013, 12:12 pm
@the curse-738: Hey bro go and have another hit of p bro.Alright bro.
Doesnt sound like you went to school at all bro.
10 Feb 2013, 12:13 pm
Bakkies
can you please tell me what all the kiwi websites you visit and post articles from have to say about your mans illegal drug taking?
can you link us to a few of these articles please?
thanks in advance
10 Feb 2013, 12:14 pm
The White Buffalo is a liar and a drugs cheat.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/8285110/SBW-fight-Botha-tests-positive-to-drugs
10 Feb 2013, 12:16 pm
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-742: hahahahahaha the white “bluffer” is a drug taking mother fcker,,
oh the serving of STFU has ciome quick and fast… beautiful indeed.
no wonder SBW couldnt knock him down, he was peaking with the amount of illegal banned substrances coursing through his veins
guess Francois didnt have the heart or guts ro face SBW without the need of “help”
hahaha
10 Feb 2013, 12:19 pm
@the curse-733: If there has ever been a set up this is it.Just a smoke screen to hide sbw and his camps cheating.You keeeweeees should be ashamed of yourselves for defending this,but then i would never expect a keweee to be ashamed.To thick.Got to go,let all you keeeweees backhand each other by yourselves.
10 Feb 2013, 12:21 pm
where the fck is Bakkies?
if SBW had tested positive this thread would have hit 2000 posts in 5 minutes..
lmfao
Botha knew he couldnt beat SBW, so had to CHEAT before the fight
this changes everything, perhaps the fight was shortened to 10 rounds after the officials had looked into Bothas eyes and recognised the roid rage?
perhaps they were worried if it went 12 rounds his heart would have packed in, roids seem to damage this organ especially.
oh my indeed..
10 Feb 2013, 12:22 pm
i say test him again, independently.
if a neutral lab shows similar results then yes, he is a doos for doping.
Kiwis have proved themselves untrustworthy all too often.
10 Feb 2013, 12:23 pm
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-746: Botha was caught in 1996 taking the drug Nandrolone
google it
but run along now boy, you have no argument because your great white hope is nothing but a junkie
that must make you two of a kind huh?
10 Feb 2013, 12:25 pm
Another South African sportsman who has absolutely disgraced our nation.I hope that the authorities deal with him to the letter of the law.Thinus Strydom also needs to be investigated for his role in the actual fight itself.If he had,beforehand ,agreed to the reduction of the rounds,why is he saying that he ‘reluctantly’ agreed to it?Strydom and Botha seem to be a partnership made in hell going on their conduct in Australia this week.
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