Francois Botha has asked his manager to apply to have the bout with Sonny Bill Williams expunged from his record given that the result was fixed.
The full statement from Francois Botha on his recent fight with Sonny Bill Williams:
“I had a drug test a few days before the fight but I found out afterwards that it was not official when I asked for the results. I also found out that the person doing the test was a confidant of Khoder Nasser (Williams’ manager), either a relative or a friend.
I had signed for a 10-rounder way back in September 2012 but after the postponement I learnt that the bout had changed to a 12-rounder, and I was happy with the change.
When I arrived in Australia all the hype was around a 12-round bout and I had no reason to believe that it was a 10-rounder and that was my mindset going into the bout. In the dressing before going to the ring, I was satisfied that it was 12 rounds after I asked the referee, Tony Kettlewell, who confirmed that it would be 12 rounds.
From the start of the bout, my strategy was to pace myself over 12 rounds, and from round seven I started turning on the pressure. After 9 rounds I was quite happy with my progress and then all of a sudden I hear the ref say “final round, shake hands”.
I had Williams in all sorts of trouble in the 10th round and there was no way he was going to last one more round, let alone two, he was out on his feet.
It was a disgusting state of affairs and it amounts to match fixing.
I have asked my manager to apply to have the bout expunged from my record. And as for the drug test, I will doing a test on Monday to clear my name.”
