Now we know why SBW won his fight

Sydney - Veteran South African boxer Francois Botha on Wednesday claimed he was offered $155 000 (R1.4m) to throw his fight against Sonny Bill Williams, sparking an angry denial from the New Zealander's manager.

Williams, a former World Cup-winning All Blacks rugby star, won the controversial heavyweight bout on points in Brisbane last Friday, which was marred by unsubstantiated reports that Botha failed a drugs test.

Botha, 44, alleges Williams' manager Khoder Nasser offered him the money in a Brisbane park three days before the World Boxing Association fight, claiming he received a phone call asking to pick him up alone.

"I wasn't told where I was going. As we stopped at a park, my cellphone was confiscated and was given to a guy in the car," Botha told New Zealand's Radio LiveSport from Durban.

"Then I was being walked (by Nasser), and during this walk, I was offered A$150 000 to throw the fight.

"I just said 'no, I can't do it'."

There is no suggestion that Williams was aware of the alleged offer.

Nasser slammed Botha as a bad loser after a fight that ended in 10 rounds, despite earlier promotions saying it was a 12-round contest.

"I think he (Botha) is still in a daze," Nasser told Fairfax Media of a man who has fought Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko and Evander Holyfield in a 23-year career.

"This is the same bloke who said he didn't know about the fight being 10 rounds, and then his promoter and he himself came out later and said it was 10 rounds.

"Then he said he wasn't drugs tested and then he said he was tested. Then he said he was tested by my brother, and now he has come up with this one. What is next?

"He has got to come to terms with the reality that he got his ass whipped by a guy who had had only five fights.

"It is all well and good to come out with all these allegations after, but where's his manhood? It's absolute madness.

"If it happened like he said, why didn't he come out and report it then - or does it suit him now?"

While Williams won the fight, he was on the receiving end of some heavy blows from Botha in the 10th round with the South African saying another two rounds would have been enough to secure him victory.

Bookmakers refunded bets on Williams's win due to the controversy over how long the fight was supposed to be.

Doubts have also been raised about whether the WBA actually sanctioned the bout, and if Williams' claim on the title is legitimate.


http://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/...bribe-20130213

There was no WBA official present in Brisbane for the fight.

The plot thickens

The referee at the centre of the controversial Sonny Bill Williams-Frans Botha boxing bout has revealed he was told about an alleged bribe offer before the fight took place.


Williams defeated Botha on points to claim the WBA international heavyweight title in Brisbane on Saturday, a result which was initially questioned due to the late change in distance from 12 rounds to 10, although this proved only the start of the post-fight drama.

Botha has since alleged that he was offered $150,000 by Williams' manager Khoder Nasser to throw the contest.

Nasser has since hit back, strongly denying the claims.

Boxing official Tony Kettlewell says former IBF world lightweight champion Philip Holiday, an assistant in Botha's team, told him earlier on Saturday night that money had been offered to the South African boxer to deliberately lose the fight.

"Philip just said he (Botha) was offered so much money to throw the fight and he refused to," Kettlewell told AAP.



"He didn't say how much money.


"He said (Botha said) 'no way in the world I'm going to lay down. I'm here to fight'."

Initially, Kettlewell shrugged off the incident and there has been no suggestion that he as referee, or the judges, were culpable of any wrongdoing.

"To me, it was hearsay. I spoke to (judge and Queensland National Boxing Federation official) Steve Marshall about it, just to let him know," Kettlewell added.

"I didn't get a chance to speak to any other official about it because we were busy on the night.

"I did my job properly. The WBA is well within their rules to reduce the fight to 10 rounds."


When informed about Kettlewell's comments, Nasser questioned why the issue has been brought up by the official five days after the fight.

"If this was the case, he shouldn't have let the fight go ahead," said Nasser, who has denied Botha's claim.

"Why is he saying it now? It's a week later."

There is no suggestion that Williams was aware of the alleged offer.

Kettlewell said he will raise all the issues with officials at a QNBF meeting on February 28.


He added it was the first time in 44 years in boxing as a fighter, trainer and official that he has been aware of a possible corruption in the sport.

The referee also believes the many contentious issues that arose from the contest could have been avoided if an official from the World Boxing Association was present.

Asked if he would have informed a WBA representative of the allegation, Kettlewell said "most definitely:.

"We don't get to say whether a WBA official is there," Kettlewell said.

"I was very surprised there wasn't. It was supposed to be a sanctioned fight

He said she said. Nothing will get proven.

Either way Botha still lost. Could have gotten an extra 150k if he took the deal though.
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Being an avid fan of boxing I have read and heard over the years numerous people slander the name of the great sport and say it's corrupt and run by thugs ect.

It pains me in this day and age we have to read articles like this and allegations that such practices may or may not take place. I long for the days where two guys trained hard for months got themselves into great shape and knocked the stuffing out of each other because they were boxing for a title(belt) that meant something

Can't agree more. I am surprised that bookies will take any bets on some fights.
Boxing used to be a great sport but alas no longer.
We can probably thank Don King for that.

I think the difficulty in this story centers around the fact that not two weeks before his fight SBW comes out and calls Geale's fight against Mundine as corrupt........sorta sets up an accusation right there when the Mundine fight was the unsurprising result and the SBW fight was the dodgy looking one.