Francois "Frans" Botha was born on 28 September 1968 and is a South African former professional boxer and kickboxer.
21 Facts About Francois Botha
2.
Francois Botha competed in boxing from 1990 to 2014, and is perhaps best known for winning the IBF heavyweight title against Axel Schulz in 1995, but was later stripped after failing a drug test.
3.
Francois Botha later challenged twice for world heavyweight titles in 2000 and 2002.
4.
Francois Botha had a victory in 1995 against Germany's Axel Schulz to win the IBF heavyweight Championship, but later tested positive for the steroid nandrolone he and his camp claimed to be prescribed by a doctor for an arm injury.
5.
Francois Botha came up on the short end via knockout in both of those encounters for the heavyweight title.
6.
In July 2007, Francois Botha returned to boxing with a unanimous decision victory over Bob Mirovic in a fight held in South Africa.
7.
Francois Botha dominated the fight with two judges holding Francois Botha won all twelve rounds and one judge ruling he won ten of twelve.
8.
On 6 February 2009, Francois Botha beat Ron "Rocky" Guerrero by unanimous decision for the vacant WBF heavyweight title in South Africa.
9.
Francois Botha successfully defended his WBF title against Timo Hoffmann on 15 May 2009 in Germany, winning the fight by split decision.
10.
Francois Botha was scheduled to box Joey Abell on 27 March 2010 at the Uganda Nelson Mandela Memorial Stadium in Kampala, Uganda.
11.
On 10 April 2010 Francois Botha lost via knockout in the 8th round to Evander Holyfield at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
12.
Since then, Francois Botha has won against former undefeated South African prospect Flo Simba.
13.
Francois Botha then fought Michael Grant for the vacant WBF heavyweight title and was leading on the scorecards when he was knocked out with a long right hand from Grant with seconds remaining in the contest.
14.
Two fights later, Francois Botha fought Francesco Pianeta, who was undefeated in 29 fights, losing the 10 round bout on points.
15.
Francois Botha was due to fight New Zealand dual-international Sonny Bill Williams in Brisbane on 24 November 2012.
16.
Francois Botha is hoping for a possible rematch against Williams in Cape Town.
17.
From 2003 to 2006 Francois Botha participated several times in the kickboxing combat sport, K-1.
18.
Francois Botha's final K-1 match was a three-round decision loss to Jorgen Kruth on 20 May 2006 in a K-1 superfight in Stockholm, Sweden.
19.
On 14 October, Francois Botha beat Espedito Da Silva by KO at K-1 Rules Africa Bomba-Yaa 2006.
20.
On 30 March 2008, Francois Botha defeated muay thai kickboxer Kaoklai Kaennorsing at The KHAN in Seoul, Korea by decision.
21.
Francois Botha lost to French kickboxer "Le Gentleman" Gregory Tony at WFC 6 on 27 September 2008 in Bulgaria.