By Jim Dower: In something of a step down for him, former IBF/WBA/WBC heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KO’s) will be facing 41-year-old Francois Botha (47-4-3, 28 KO’s) on January 16th for the vacant World Boxing Federation heavyweight title at the Nelson Mandela Memorial Stadium, in Kampala, Uganda. This will be the first appearance for the 47-year-old Holyfield since he lost a controversial 12 round majority decision to seven foot Nikolay Valuev last year on December 20th.
Many boxing fans and writers felt that Holyfield had done more than enough to get win a comfortable decision. However, he was denied the victory in the fight that took place in Switzerland. But instead of staying busy, Holyfield has stayed out of the ring until now. The Nelson Mandela stadium holds 80,000 people, and they’re hoping to get a big turnout for the fight.
Holyfield is ranked number #15 in the WBC, while Botha isn’t ranked in the top tier. Botha has won three out of his last four bouts since making a comeback in 2007 after five years away from the boxing ring. Since starting his comeback, Botha has beaten Bob Mirovic, Ron Guerrero and Timo Hoffman. In his last fight, Botha fought to a 12 round majority draw with 6’7″ Cuban Pedro Carrion in October.
Holyfield looked good against Valuev in his last fight, and some people think that Evander did a better job against the big seven foot Russian compared to the 29-year-old David Haye, who beat Valuev by a 12 round majority decision on November 7th to capture his WBA crown. Holyfield needs to beat Botha and look good in doing so for him to have a chance at getting another shot at one of the major titles.
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