Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KOs) and Francois ‘The White Buffalo’ Botha (47-5-3, 28 KOs) wound back the clocks on Saturday night as they faced each other for the first time in their long careers. Holyfield is 47 years old and Botha 41 but in the run up to the fight both fighters seemed as determined and focused as ever to come out victorious.

Between the both of their incredible careers they have amassed an impressive 90 Wins and 56 KO’s out of a total of 110 fights. So a knockout was on the cards and the fans knew it as they were screaming for blood from the opening bell.

Crown Boxing hosted the event at the Thomas and Mack center and they must have been disappointed with the turnout. The arena can hold up to 20,000 people but there were maybe 2000 there at the most. Maybe a poor decision on their behalf, to hold a fight on the same night as the UFC 112 that is.

Holyfield took time to adjust to the pace of the fight and in the early rounds it was Botha who looked the more dangerous. Just when Holyfield was about to make his move, Botha would rip into him with a vicious body shot combination that forced Holyfield onto the ropes a couple of times.

It took Holyfield until the sixth round to really find his rhythm but once he found it you sensed Botha was in trouble and that the inevitable was going to happen. In round 8, it came. Holyfield smashed Botha with a hard right to the chin which sent the ‘White Buffalo’ straight to the canvas. Botha managed to get back to his feet and beat the referees count, but within seconds Holyfield was going at him again forcing him into the corner and wailing at him before Russell Mora stepped in to stop the fight at 2:05 into the 8th round.

Francois Botha was gracious in defeat and said after the fight that ‘"He (Holyfield) is a very good defensive fighter. He's a smart fighter, too. His right hand has a lot of power, and he's also a very quick, big man’

Holyfield gave himself a ‘seven’ for his performance and promised to be back in the ring soon saying that ‘I want to come back very soon’. It would seem that Holyfield is serious about his comeback and there was talk at the fight that a showdown against one of the Klitschko brothers could be on the cards.