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Put up or shut up, Botha told

Bongani Magasela

Bongani Magasela

Francois Botha must put up or shut up.

This is how a peeved Rodney Berman feels about Botha's diatribe at the weekend, when he dismissed Berman's fighter, Osborne Machimana, after his first-round stoppage of Corrie Sanders two weeks ago.

The "White Buffalo", a former IBF world heavyweight champion and current WBF interim champion, played down Big Daddy's victory over the 42-year-old Sanders.

Botha was quoted as saying Zack "Black Warrior" Mwekassa from Congo, whose skills are honed here by Warren Hulley, could eat Machimana alive.

Mwekassa, 23, fights under the banner of Thinus Strydom, who co-promotes with Botha under World Sport Promotions.

Mwekassa holds the WBF belt in the cruiserweight division.

Botha's comments have annoyed Berman, who advised the 39-year-old Botha to either challenge the SA champion for another showdown or shut up.

"If Botha feels that Ozzy is nothing and he can beat the daylights out of him, why does he not challenge him? We have a date ready in April," said Berman.

Machimana helped Sanders, the former WBU and WBO champion, to retirement. Their fight was attended by Mike Tyson who stopped Botha in five rounds in the US on January 16 1999.

"I am not crazy when I say Machimana can bloom into a really fine heavyweight who could win a world title in a year or two," added Berman yesterday.

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