Fight with Tyson puts spotlight on Botha

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 9:59 a.m.

He held the lottery ticket and like all lottery winners his life has changed.

Just one day after his fight with Mike Tyson was formally announced, Frans Botha was seeing the effects of striking it rich.

Now he enters a room and all eyes are upon him.

Wednesday that meant a series of good-natured intrusions and constant well-wishes, plus still more interviews, including an extensive one with the Showtime cable network that will handle Botha's Jan. 16 pay-per-view fight with Tyson at the MGM Grand Garden.

For Botha, there will be endless questions and multiple demands until fight time. Everyone wants a piece of the man who would be king.

"That's OK," he said, agreeable as always. "You get a fight like this and it's all about money."

Between morning interviews with the print media, a pre-workout afternoon session with Showtime and some radio work in the evening, Botha was doing his best to build interest in a fight in which some feel he's a secondary performer. While it's Tyson in the headlines, it's Botha working the audience.

"The money's a definite factor, but so is the opportunity to beat Mike Tyson and get the recognition that comes with being one of the best heavyweights out there," he said. "I know he sees me as a sacrificial lamb and maybe the fans do too, but I think by the night of the fight I'll have the crowd on my side."

Crossroads time

The $2 million Botha will receive for this fight will seem fairly insignificant should he upset the former undisputed champion. A victory and Botha's prestige and marketability will increase tenfold.

A loss and he runs the risk of being branded another Peter McNeeley.

"But I'm not going to lose," Botha said before working out at the Golden Gloves Gym. "I saw what Evander Holyfield was able to do with Mike and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

That means blocking Tyson's wide-arching punches, stifling his inside game and countering with shots up the middle.

"I'm studying every tape of Mike I can get my hands on," Botha said. "I'm going to watch so much film of him it'll seem like he's my best friend.

"But the (tapes) I'm really watching are the two with Holyfield. Inside fighting is always (Tyson's) game plan, but Holyfield frustrated him and that's what I have to do by blocking his shots and tying him up."

Botha, 39-1 with 24 knockouts, and Tyson, 45-3 with 39 KOs, are scheduled for 10 rounds in what will be Tyson's first fight since losing by disqualification to Holyfield in June of 1997. Tyson will receive $30 million.

"All the heavyweights look at Mike Tyson and wish they could be in his shoes," Botha said, referring to Tyson's ability to generate huge-money fights. "Everybody's watching him real close right now because they know this could be his last chance."

Botha respects Tyson as a fighter yet says he's not in awe of the one-dimensional brawler.

"A lot of people say he's finished but I think he's still one of the greatest fighters out there," Botha said. "He still has his power and you know he's always going to come to you. You don't have to look for him; he's right there.

"But I can take a punch and I can throw a punch too. I can hurt him with my power. I don't have fear of him and I'm not going to be intimidated."

Tame Tyson

At a Tuesday press conference in Los Angeles to officially announce the fight, Botha said Tyson was surprisingly tame if not downright congenial.

"Mike's always trying to intimidate his opponent and I expected to hear some of that," Botha said. "But I didn't see a lot of intimidation and that surprised me.

"It tells me he's not confident in himself."

Botha expects the typical Tyson assault at the outset of the fight, followed by a transitional period in which the momentum shifts to the South African.

"I see Mike trying to take me out with one punch," he said. "I see him using most of his energy early in the fight, and after a few rounds he may not have much left. I see myself with a late-round victory."

He also knows the danger involved in fighting Tyson.

"This is make it or break it for him," Botha said. "We may not be fighting for a world title but he'll see it as a title fight he has to win. He'll be as prepared as he can be."

Tyson, 32, is training in Arizona after recently moving to Scottsdale.

Botha, 30, has been training in Las Vegas for three weeks and will move his workouts to the Monte Carlo casino today. He's scheduled for open workouts daily (except Sundays) at noon.

He'll be on display at the Monte Carlo in an effort to up his visibility. Despite his excellent record and the fact he's a former IBF champion, Botha remains relatively unknown to the general public.

Doctor's orders

"You can't look back," he said of a loss outside the ring and one inside it that curtailed his career. A disputed positive drug test (for steroids) followed a 1995 victory over Axel Schulz that cost Botha the IBF title, and it preceded a loss to Michael Moorer when the IBF title was once again at stake.

"I'm still very unhappy and feel unlucky (about the steroids)," he said. "I trusted my doctor and only took what he told me. Then we tried to fight it with the IBF and got caught in the middle of a crossfire.

"I always saw myself as one of the cleanest fighters out there, so that hurt."

And despite losing to Moorer, he actually gained some credibility with a respectable outing.

"I lost that fight because my energy was gone," he said. "I believe I picked up some respect from the fans and I believe I destroyed Michael Moorer, but that fight was a big setback for me. I had always seen myself as going undefeated, and after losing to him I had to find my feet again."

He has found his feet with a high-profile fight against the highest-profile fighter in the world.

"I'm ready for whatever Mike wants to do," Botha said. "I know he's coming, but I'm doing some different things and getting myself completely ready.

"You have to have your head on straight for a fight of this magnitude, and I do."