Evander Holyfield to Fight Botha; Shot at Vitali Klitschko Looms

Although his Nov. 8 bout slated for Jeju Island, South Korea, was canceled, 47-year-old former four-time champion, Evander Holyfield, could fight South African, Francois Botha, on Dec. 19, in Uganda. A good showing in the Botha fight could also lead to a possible title shot at WBC champion, Vitali Klitschko, Holyfield's manager, Ken Sanders, told FanHouse on Tuesday.

"We do this fight in December, then I'd say in February or March, we could have a championship fight with the WBC's Vitali Klitschko," said Sanders, whose contention is supported by comments made by WBC president, Jose Sulaiman.

"If Evander comes and has a good showing in the fight that takes place in Jeju, I think that Klitschko might take a fight with him," Sulaiman, told FanHouse on Sept. 28 when Holyfield-Derric Rossy still was scheduled. "I believe that Evander Holyfield is one of the best heavyweight fighters of the last quarter century."

Holyfield was slated to fight Rossy (22-2, 12 KOs) of Medford, New York, who is rated No. 14 by the WBC -- one spot ahead of Holyfield -- according to the WBC's Web site.

"The Koreans who were putting the fight on [against Rossy], they didn't come up with the money, so Sulaiman called it off about three weeks ago. The reason that we were going to fight in Korea to start with was to get ranked to have a chance at a championship fight," said Sanders.

"When Jose called me to call it off, he said, 'I'm going to live up to my word, and I'm going to go ahead and rank Evander,'" said Sanders.

"Sure enough, when the rankings came out, Sulaiman had him ranked No. 15," said Sanders. "So we're working on the contract as we speak for Francois Botha in Uganda, and we have a real good understanding on it. We're going to get that done."

A resident of Newport Beach, Calif., Botha, 41, has a record of 47-4-3 (with 28 knockouts), and is 3-0-2 since being knocked out in March of 2002 by Wladimir Klitschko.

Botha's other losses are to former champions Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer, by knockouts in the second, fifth and 12th rounds, respectively.

Nicknamed "The White Buffalo," Botha, also called, "Franz," is coming off of a 12-round draw with Pedro Carrion on Oct. 24.

Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) is 6-7-1 in his past 14 fights, including a ninth-round knockout loss to James Toney in October of 2003.

Immediately following his third straight loss, to Larry Donald, at New York's Madison Square Garden in November of 2004, the New York State Athletic Commission revoked Holyfield's boxing license, citing a losing streak that included those to Chris Byrd and Toney.

Holyfield attributed the losses to an injury to his left shoulder, and resumed his career following surgery.

Holyfield still was licensed in Texas, where he reeled off victories over Jeremy Bates (KO-2), Fres Oquendo (decision), Vinny Madalone (KO-3) and Lou Savarese (decision).

But Holyfield has lost his past two bouts by decision to Russian's Sultan Ibragimov and seven-foot Nikolai Valuev, respectively, in October 2007, and, December 2008.

The loss to Ibragimov (22-1-1, 17 KOs) was for the WBO title, while the Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) loss was for the WBA crown, which Valuev will defend on Saturday against London's David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs).

Holyfield disputes the scorecards in the loss to the seven-foot Valuev, who won, 114-114, 115-114, and, 116-112.

"There was no doubt that I won. I hit him more times than he hit me, and his arms are longer than mine. How could I not win? I was able to still beat him to the punch and land more punches than him," said Holyfield.

"For six rounds, I didn't even get touched. He couldn't even keep up with the quickness," said Holyfield. "The fact of the matter is that I won the fight. Ain't no way in the world that you can win a round and not throw a punch."

Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs) is coming off of September's 10th-round knockout of Cris Arreola, and will defend his title against Atlanta's Kevin Johnson (22-0-1, nine KOs) on Dec. 12.

Klitschko's manager, Tom Loeffler, called a defense against Holyfield, "not totally out of the realm of possibility."

"I'm just trying to get a fight in this year, and I'm looking forward to fighting in December in Uganda," said Holyfield. "Then, maybe I'll be lined up for that championship sometime early next year."