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South African boxing’s enfant terrible Thomas “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen will be back in the ring – more than a year after being stripped of his International Boxing Organisation (IBO) light-heavyweight crown.
He will meet Daniel Bruwer for the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) Pan African title at Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, on August 27.
Oosthuizen’s match-up comes after he forfeited his crown for failing to make the required 79.38kg at the official weigh-in a day before he was due to defend against New Zealand’s Robert Berridge at Emperors Palace in June last year.
He was 1.22kg overweight and was subsequently stripped of his belt.
Tommy Gun was also docked 30% of his purse, even though he did not fight.
His woes were exacerbated when his then promoter Rodney Berman also severed ties with him as a result of the boxer’s “ill-discipline”.
Tommy Gun had been pencilled in to challenge Germany’s Jürgen Brähmer for the WBO light-heavyweight crown in Germany in April, but pulled out of the bout.
Now the boxer will be back in the ring again.
His new promoter, Andre Thysse said his charge would be in great shape in his comeback bout against Bruwer.
But Thysse refused to allow the media to interview the boxer until Thursday, “when a press conference will be held”.
“This will be a great fight in which two of the country’s hard punchers will clash. This will hopefully be one of the best fights featuring two good light-heavyweights,” said Thysse.
Oosthuizen comes in with a record of 25 wins and two draws in 27 fights.
Bruwer, who is trained by Damien Durandt, has chalked up 24 wins, six defeats and one draw from 31 bouts.
He has not fought for almost two years since losing to Ukranian Oleksandr Usyk with a seventh round technical knockout for the WBO intercontinental cruiserweight crown in Ukraine in October 2014.
“I have been out of action for too long because my first son was born last year. I wanted to spend time with my family. I’m back with a bang now and am ready to win the crown,” said Bruwer.
