January 8, 1999
Former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will make his return to boxing live on Cox Communications Pay-Per-View Saturday, January 16, 1999 at 6 p.m. when he squares off against former world heavyweight champion Francois Botha at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas.
Cox Communications will carry the fight on Channel 97 with a second audio program (SAP) in Spanish.
The suggested retail price of Tyson vs. Botha is $45.95 through $49.95, but may vary by cable system.
By January 16, Tyson will have been dormant for more than 18 months following the revocation of his boxing license by the Nevada State Athletic Commission as the result of his bout with Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997. The Commission reinstated Tyson's license on October 19, 1998 by a vote of 4-1.
With a record of 45 wins and 3 losses (including 39 knockouts), Tyson, fighting out of Catskill NY, was the youngest man in the history of boxing to win the heavyweight title.
At age 20 he stopped Trevor Berbick to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt on November 22, 1986. Tyson went on to capture the World Boxing Association (WBA) and international Boxing Federation (IBF) belts in 1987 and became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Leon Spinks in 1978.
Now, with a newfound focus, Tyson intends to prove that he can be the third man to win the heavyweight crown three times, joining Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield in this feat. Tyson brings a combination of unmatched speed and power in both hands to the ring, together with a strong sense of ring history unparalleled among today's fighters.
Tyson's opponent, Francois Botha, has a record of 39 wins and 1 loss (including 24 knockouts). Fighting out of Newport Beach, California, by way of Witbank, South Africa, Botha is the former IBF heavyweight champion. He captured the vacant title on December 9, 1995, in Germany against Axel Schulz before a hostile crowd of Schulz supporters. But a month after the fight, Botha's drug test came back positive for steriods and the fight was ruled a "no contest." Botha got a second chance to win the IBF title on November 9, 1996, when he squared off against Michael Moorer at the MGM Grand. In the end, a big right hand and his fighting spirit weren't enough to regain the belt. Moorer opened the 12th round with a series of unanswered shots that prompted referee Mills Lane to step in and call a halt to the bout. Since then, Botha has won four straight bouts, three of them by knockout.
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