Golf: Packing quite a punch in this bag

Richard Dunn

When Francois Botha swings his driver off the tee, you can almost

feel the earth shake from his powerful thrust.

Botha is big and strong. His swing is fast with a slight hitch, like he’s

working the large bag with an uppercut in the training room.

Botha, Newport Beach’s very own professional heavyweight boxer who made

headlines 14 months ago when he got into the ring against Mike Tyson, can

also pack some punch in his golf bag.

Even though he bought five mulligans Monday in a charity golf tournament

to support Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at Newport Beach Country Club,

Botha has picked up golf quickly in only two years of playing.

“In golf,” said Botha, whose goal each time out is to crack 80, “there’s

a lot of hand-eye coordination required, like in boxing. I’m already

shooting in the low 80s, and I’ve never taken lessons.”

Botha, 31, said he was hoping for a heavyweight title shot against Lennox

Lewis in Great Britain July 15, but Lewis has already scheduled Johnny

Ruiz for that date, according to Lewis’ Web site.

Botha will fight next in an undercard April 29 at the Madison Square

Garden in New York, when Lewis takes on Michael Grant and defends all

three of his heavyweight titles (World Boxing Council, World Boxing

Association and International Boxing Federation).

The blond fighter from South Africa said if he didn’t face Lewis in a

July title fight, he would try for Germany’s Wladimir Klitschko. “Then

maybe a rematch with Mike Tyson again down the road,” said Botha, who

faced the controversial former heavyweight champion in Las Vegas on Jan.

16, 1999, and lost by a fifth-round knockout.

Botha said he’s ranked No. 2 among heavyweights in the World Boxing

Organization. “(Former promoter) Don King took me out of all the other

rankings,” Botha said.

“I should be No. 1 in the WBO, but (King) has got a big influence on the

rankings and his (court) transcripts (from last year’s trial in New York)

are coming out soon and it will be exposed. I’ve been disappointed in all

the rankings, because I’ve beat guys who are ranked higher than me.

(Boxing) is corrupt.”

As for his golf, Botha proudly wore his moniker (“The White Buffalo”) on

his Green Beret-style hat and a golf shirt featuring his bout with Tyson.

A Newport Beach Country Club member, Botha started swinging the sticks in

Florida, when he was training for a fight and had some spare time. One of

his trainers was a regular hack and Botha one day joined him on the

links.

“That feeling, when you hit a good shot, that’s when you get started

(with the bug),” said Botha, who is 39-2-1 with 24 knockouts in his

professional boxing career, which began in 1990.

Under King’s auspices, Botha achieved his dream when he defeated Axel

Shultz of Germany for the IBF heavyweight championship on Dec. 9, 1995.

Unfortunately, it was taken away in March 1996 a federal judge in a New

Jersey court, then Botha lost his first bout, absorbing a 12-round

technical knockout against Michael Moorer in Las Vegas.

“Technically speaking, (the loss) was a win for me,” Botha said. “My

stock as a fighter went up. Moorer went to the hospital after the fight

and I was ready for a big steak.”