Boxing in New Zealand turned farcical over the weekend when former Kiwi rugby star Sonny Bill Williams took on a pot-bellied Frans Botha in Brisbane, Australia. Robberies are nothing new to boxing, but the outcome of Friday’s fight down under will likely prove the most controversial fight of the year.
Williams is following in the footsteps of Anthony Mundine, launching a second professional sports career in boxing. Frans Botha, now 44 years old, was never better than a fringe contender, and is so far past his best that his last decent outing was earning a Majority Draw against Clifford Etienne back in 2002!
It was safe to say that Botha was viewed as little more than a stepping stone with a name going into last Friday, and Williams was handily piling up points for most of the fight. Botha then opened up, bouncing back to pummel Williams in the 9th and 10th. With a late stoppage looking imminent, the fight was rescheduled on the spot from a 12 Round event to a 10 Round event, thereby saving Sonny Boy Williams and preserving his points victory and undefeated status.
I’ve been watching boxing for a quarter century now, and I can easily and safely say that even in a sport known for its corruption and spectacular farces, what happened in Brisbane on Friday night is unheard of. I struggle to think of anything as ridiculous or as obviously biased (and probably illegal, but for that you need to ask an expert in Australian boxing regulations) as changing the scheduled duration of a fight after the first bell! This fiasco was so obviously beyond the pale that bookmakers promptly announced they would refund all bets.
Williams has retained his undefeated standing, but he has lost just about everything else. The fight was supposed to be for the WBA’s international strap, but even the WBA won’t bend its rules to give out a title for a 10-round fight (all international and title fights, and most national ones as well, must be for 12 Rounds), so Williams doesn’t get that leg-up in his career. By getting clobbered by Botha, he was also badly exposed, and it will take years to eliminate the stain from his name after Friday’s wretched farce.
It’s not all bad, though. In the wake of this scandal, David Tua has called out Sonny Bill Williams. Frans Botha demanded a rematch immediately after getting robbed as well. Maybe we’ll be lucky and one of them will make a nice payday cleaning Williams’ clock.
