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24.2.2010: Putting an end to many – mostly uneducated – rumours
out in circulation over the past weeks, Fight Production now
confirmed that it has in unison with SES Boxing stopped working
with World Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Francois
‘White Buffalo’ Botha, 47-4-3 (28 KO’s).
After defeating Timo Hoffmann in May of 2009 in Germany, the now
41-year-old South African signed a promotional deal with SES/
Fight Production. In the first fight of that new deal, however,
Botha gave a hugely disappointing performance and could only
draw with unheralded Cuban Pedro Carrion. Still, there was a lot
of talk about meeting legendary Evander Holyfield next, but for
some reason each attempt failed.
First, Baltic Pro Box – headed by Eddie Bazira – tried to stage
that fight in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, but according to
Fight Production manager Olaf Schroeder “never produced even one
Dollar”. Next, the whole situation stalled, because, in
Schroeder’s words, “a phony called Sterling McPherson got
himself involved. Although only Francois and a certain ‘writer’
known for rarely checking his info’s believed in his daytime
fantasies and it cost us a lot of time.”
This episode seemed to play a major role in the splitting of
ways now between Botha and his German promoters. However, while
SES head Ulf Steinforth was unavailable for comments, Schroeder
only concluded:
“Yes, we are losing out on money, but sometimes that is the
better option. We enjoyed working with Francois, but from our
perspective there is little point in extending our business
relationship. We wish him all the best in his career and hope he
can get the fights and purses he is looking for.”
Like so often with politically-correct statements like this,
there is probably more to it than meets the eye, but the bottom
line is that at least there seems to be no acrimony involved. |
