Thursday, June 4, 1998 | 10:53 a.m.
Frans Botha wanted to talk.
Always personable yet sometimes reserved, the former IBF heavyweight champion had built up a reservoir of subjects to discuss and seemingly was anxious to get a few of the prickly ones off his chest.
So he started in on Don King.
"The biggest mistake of my life was to join up with him," said Botha, who remains bound by a promotional contract he signed with King. "I always looked at him as the king of the heavyweights, but look what he's doing with me. I'm starving."
Botha, 36-1, has not fought in more than a year. As it is, he's training in Las Vegas at the Top Rank Gym yet has no fights scheduled after turning down a short-notice spot on King's card Saturday in New York City that headlines with the heavyweight title fight between Evander Holyfield and Henry Akinwande.
"Nine days notice, that's what he gave me," Botha said of rejecting a bout with journeyman Ricky Jackson. "Can you believe that? To me, that shows he really doesn't care about me.
"In fact, I'm pretty sure he just doesn't like me."
Botha is a likeable fellow yet he has had his disagreements and legal entanglements with King. Tack on a disputed positive test result for steroids that cost him his IBF championship two years ago, and Botha has spent far more time in courtrooms than in boxing rings since defeating Axel Schultz Dec. 9, 1995.
"I've had a lot of legal battles and it's cost me a fortune," Botha said. "The last two years have not been good for me, and part of that is because Don's upset with me because I took him to court."
Botha used the courts to force King into putting him in with then-IBF champion Michael Moorer on Nov. 9, 1996, in Las Vegas. In what may have been his most impressive outing, Botha stood up well to Moorer before losing by technical knockout at 18 seconds of the 12th and final round.
"I still have nightmares about that fight," Botha said. "I know I could have won."
Botha has virtually disappeared from the boxing map since that evening. He says he wants to fight but King is preventing it.
"I'm tired of being quiet about this," he said. "I think people still want to see me fight and I want to be out there, but he's keeping me from earning a living. I'm just hoping I can get away from him soon."
Botha maintains his contract with King expires August 1.
"If he doesn't offer me exactly what I want, I'll be a free man," he said. "As it is, I'm stuck. My hands are tied. I feel like I've been banned from boxing for the past year, but that's about to end soon."
It's curious that King hasn't exploited Botha's marketability, which is significantly bolstered by his South African heritage. That country, a potential gold mine for boxing, would likely embrace a Botha vs. Holyfield fight and it would have been a far more lucrative bout than Holyfield vs. Akinwande.
"Don's never done anything for me promotional-wise," Botha said. "I know for a fact that people in South Africa offered Holyfield $16 million to fight me, yet King persuaded him to take $10 million to fight Akinwande. They're going to lose money on that New York show, yet they could have made money with me and Holyfield in South Africa.
"Like it or not, in a sense I'm a political figure representing South Africa. If I can get a title fight there it would be worth millions."
Botha, 29, is somewhat optimistic that he can still land a major fight in South Africa, perhaps with Mike Tyson and perhaps around the Oct. 25 opening of the World Boxing Council convention in Johannesburg.
"I think Tyson's going to fight me, maybe in his first fight back," Botha said, referring to Tyson's likely reinstatement by the Nevada State Athletic Commission next month. "It'll be a good fight with a lot of fan interest. The way I feel, I'll beat him because I think I can beat any of the heavyweights out there.
"Look at (Lennox) Lewis: How can he be champion with a glass jaw? He's got to be the luckiest man alive."
Botha, working under trainer Panama Lewis, feels his luck will change when he escapes from King.
"Things will get better," he said. "I've gotten stronger and I'm better conditioned than I ever was. Once I get past the politics of boxing, I think the future will look a little brighter for me."
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