Holyfield earns TKO over Botha

Evander Holyfield got what he wanted Saturday -- a measure of redemption.

The 47-year-old Holyfield was able to overcome the awkward Frans Botha, as the former four-time world heavyweight champion stopped the 41-year-old from South Africa with an eighth-round technical knockout in front of an announced crowd of 3,127 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"I fight because, the fact of the matter is, I don't let nobody determine my destination," Holyfield said. "I would never be who I am if I listened to what people had to say."

Holyfield (43-10-2), who won Botha's World Boxing Federation belt, hopes he can parlay this victory into a title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, who between them own three of the four major titles.

"I give myself a '7,' " Holyfield said in rating his first fight since Dec. 20, 2008. "I can get better. The fact is, I had a long layoff, and I wasn't as sharp as I'd like to have been."

Holyfield was fortunate he stopped Botha (47-5-3) when he did, because judges Jerry Roth and Glenn Feldman had Botha ahead, 67-66. Herb Santos had Holyfield leading 69-64 going into the eighth round.

Early on, Botha was effective in tying up Holyfield, holding him and hitting him off the break. In one sequence, he appeared to have taken a page from the Curly playbook, hitting Holyfield in the second round with both hands on his ears simultaneously as if it were a "Three Stooges" episode.

Referee Russell Mora warned both fighters to knock it off, but apparently neither got the message.

"He was holding me," Holyfield said. "He was able to tangle me up inside and fought a smart fight. The thing is, he's very quick for being a big man."

Finally, in the sixth round, Holyfield got on track. He landed an effective five-punch combination that stunned Botha and followed up by backing Botha into a neutral corner with two good shots to the body. As the round ended, Holyfield tagged Botha with a right to the chin that had him staggering back to his corner.

It set the stage for the eighth round, when Holyfield dropped Botha early with an overhand right. Botha got to his feet but was obviously on wobbly legs.

Holyfield quickly looked to finish it off and was all over Botha when Mora wisely stepped in and stopped it 55 seconds into the round.

"He's a great fighter," Botha said. "I made mistakes, and he was able to capitalize on those mistakes. I don't feel ashamed losing to a great champion."

For Holyfield, a 3½ to 1 favorite, it was his first win in Las Vegas since 2000, when he beat John Ruiz at Paris Las Vegas to win the vacant WBA title.

"When people talk about my legacy, it's who I fought," Holyfield said. "If I fought a guy who couldn't fight, what would they say?

"I want to fight somebody who I get a little credit if I beat him."

In the co-feature, Henry Namauu dominated Rayford Johnson in their 10-round cruiserweight bout, scoring a seventh-round TKO.

Namauu, a UNLV graduate who works at the Thomas & Mack, countered late in the seventh after Johnson tagged him with a series of rights. Namauu (6-3) flailed away at Johnson (5-5) until referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight with 37 seconds left in the round.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.