 Francois Botha vs Timo Hoffman |
The fans at ringside whitnessed a heavyweight slugfest from the very first to the twelth and final bell. Hoffmann started as the aggressor, moving Botha into the ropes and unleashing with combinations. He did not use his reach advantage, which turned out to be a deciding factor. For a moment, though, it looked like the “White Buffalo” would not stand a chance against the German local hero. However, Botha quickly proved that he can not be underestimated as he all out of sudden connected with massive overhand rights to the chin of the challenger.
The fight developed into a give-and-take battle, technique went out of the window in the first couple stanzas. For some rounds, Hoffmann dictated as he put the pressure on his foe, in other stanzas it was Botha who connected with powerful shots right on the chin of the “German Oak”. Both combatants fought on even terms for most of the time.
That is until the championship rounds. After a impressive barrage of explosive punches, Hoffmann went down hard in the eleventh. The 34-year-old recovered but went down again in the twelth. It seemed like the referee would have stopped the contest at this time and Botha was already celebrating. However, the referee ruled it a slip and the battle continued. The South African still went forward relentlessly but was not able to archieve the knock out. Therefore, after twelve hard-fought, spirited heavyweight round, the judges had to declare the winner. Two officials scored it 117-110 and 114-113 for Botha, the third had Hoffmann ahead 114-113.
Botha’s huge ralley in the last two rounds was the deciding factor, making him the deserving winner. Hoffmann tried his best but walked into too many right hands by his foe. Although having an iron chin, the shots had to take their toll on the German. And they did. Late. But they did. Francois Botha retains his WBF belt and moves to 47-4-2. Hoffmann, on the other hand, felt short in another big fight, falling to 36-7-1.
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