You knew that when the "White Buffalo" and "Black Rhino" got together Saturday night at the New Orleans Arena that there were going to be fireworks.

And while there were knockdowns, late hits and blown calls, the end result was a sloppy 10-round majority draw, leaving more questions than ever for the careers of Francois Botha and Clifford Etienne.

Scores were 95-93 for Botha, and 94-94 twice. MaxBoxing also scored it 94-94.

After boxing effectively for the first four rounds, Etienne, 24-1-1 with 17 KOs, made two trips to the canvas in rounds five and six, but the fun was just beginning.

Late in the eighth round, with his legs finally back under him after his troublesome middle rounds, Etienne hurt Botha -- 44-4-2, 1 NC, with 28 KOs -- with a right hand. Botha staggered backward with "The Black Rhino" in pursuit. With Etienne looking for the finisher along the ropes, the bell sounded and Botha dropped his hands. Etienne kept punching and referee Elmo Adolph was nowhere to be found.

When Adolph finally recognized that the round was over, Botha, recipient of at least two clean right hands, crumbled to the canvas. "It was like a Tyson punch," said "The White Buffalo." "The punch you don't see is the one that hurts you."

Immediately, Botha's manager Sterling McPherson tore into the ring, soon to be accompanied by Etienne's promoter Les Bonano. The two jawed at each other and at Adolph, and their debate continued after the fight, leading Etienne to blurt, "I think we ought to let them fight it out."

Botha finally made it to his feet, and was given two minutes' rest by Adolph, who explained to Showtime's Jim Gray after the fight, "With all the crowd noise I didn't hear the bell. I'm not going to penalize anyone for hitting after the bell if I didn't hear it myself."

With Botha recovered, the ninth round finally commenced. Etienne hurt his foe early in the round, but Botha again showed remarkable recuperative powers and came back to stun the Louisiana native by the end of the round with, you guessed it, a right hand.

The right hand was the theme of the fight, billed "The Call of The Wild." And wild it was. Hoping to capitalize on the good fortune of Fres Oquendo, who dropped Etienne seven times with right hands in their bout, Botha came out swinging his right paw, looking for an early trip back to the West Coast.

To his credit, Etienne either absorbed, blocked, or ducked Botha's attempts at nailing his Achilles' heel, and came back strong, using more boxing skills than usually seen from the forward moving "Rhino."

After his early success, including some effective, but not frequent enough, jabbing, Etienne had settled into a groove and Botha was sucking wind and looking for a one-punch finisher.

He almost got it.

In the fifth round, a round Etienne was winning, Botha finally caught his foe on the temple with a right hand and Etienne's legs immediately stiffened. Botha jumped in, and as Etienne tried to get away ala Tommy Hearns against Marvin Hagler, he was sent to the floor by another right. Etienne rose unsteadily, and was fortunate to make it out of the round.

Asked by trainer JC Davis to just survive the sixth, Etienne was still wobbly as the round began, though chants of "Rhino, Rhino" by the partisan crowd helped the hometown hero keep in the fight. A sluggish Botha helped, too, as his less than stellar stamina didn't allow him to pull the trigger on the finisher, but another right hand did send Etienne stumbling to the floor a second time, a two-point swing on the scorecards that proved costly to the once-beaten native of Baton Rouge.

By the seventh round, Etienne was back in the fight, though the pace had slowed to a sloppy mess, with Botha and Etienne content to wrestle on the inside, with only sporadic punches being thrown by both.

After the wild finish to the eighth round, both men were happy to make it to the final bell, with the decision unpopular with the New Orleans fans, but for a change, a just one.

"I think he might have edged me out a bit," admitted Etienne after the bout, with Botha not complaining about the decision, but about the officiating of Adolph. "It's not a loss for either of us, but things like this hurt boxing."