FRANCOIS Botha, the South African boxer known as "The White Buffalo", appeared to be halted irrevocably after he suffered a stunning second round technical knockout (TKO) defeat against budding New Zealand heavyweight prodigy Joseph Parker in Auckland yesterday.

But after being battered into submission by a flurry of two-handed blows, the 44- year-old Botha proclaimed he would "be back".

To those in the capacity-filled stadium, however, it was apparent the long period in which Botha had been a force in international boxing had come to an end - and retirement might well be the best option.

Although the referee stopped the fight after two minutes and 32 seconds of the second round, as the bulky Botha slumped to the canvas for the verdict to go down as a TKO, it would have been a straight knockout with Botha having no chance of beating the 10-count.

Parker took the initiative from the opening bell and clearly won the first round, while demonstrating the kind of maturity that belied the fact that this was only his sixth professional contest at the relatively tender age for a heavyweight of 21.

"He took me by surprise," said Botha afterwards.

Known as "Explosive Joseph" by his adoring New Zealand supporters, Botha had minimised the Parker challenge in pre-fight conferences and labelled him "Baby Joseph" instead.