Oosthuizen smiling all the way into the ring
Local boxing’s bad boy Tommy Oosthuizen turned nice guy at the prefight media conference at Emperors Palace on Tuesday‚ smiling his way through the verbal barbs and even wishing opponent Thabiso Mchunu well.
The pair top the Call to Glory bill at the casino on Saturday night. At a media function to announce the bout a few months back, Oosthuizen called himself “the toughest f***ing guy around here” and spoke confidently of dispatching Mchunu and then Kevin Lerena.
Not on Tuesday, when he kept his talk clean and short. “I was ready [for the fight] last week‚” he said. “All the best to the Smiths [Mchunu’s trainer Sean] and Thabiso.”
Smith said it was an honour to “go to war against Harold”‚ referring to Oosthuizen’s trainer‚ “The Hammer” Volbrecht‚ but took a dig at him. “Throw the running shoes away‚ it’s time to go to war.”
Oosthuizen smiled. His demeanour did not change when Smith’s father Kosie‚ the hard-hitting light-heavyweight star from the 1970s‚ interjected. “He can’t fight‚ he’s a bum‚” Kosie shouted at Oosthuizen. “I’m 73‚ I’ll show he’s a bum.”
Oosthuizen smiled back. Smith seemed dismayed. Oosthuizen also smiled at the banter between the other boxers.
Ryno Liebenberg spoke of his love for his super-middleweight opponent Alfonso Tissen; his sparring partners for years. “We’re mates. I love Alfonso‚ but I’m going to knock him out… I’m going to bliksem him,” he said. Oosthuizen smiled. Tissen’s trainer Gert Strydom retorted: “We know what we’re up against. I respect Ryno … he’s going to try bliksem Alfonso. We’re going to bliksem you back.” Oosthuizen smiled again.
Both the OosthuizenMchunu and Liebenberg-Tissen contests are for African Boxing Union titles. However, there is also much interest in the undercard bout between former IBO featherweight champion Lusanda Komanisi‚ who moves up to lightweight to take on Michael Mokoena.
Komanisi has stopped 18 of his 21 victims‚ but Mokoena doubted if he was going to carry that power up two divisions.
Afterwards Oosthuizen‚ who has been locked up a few times including for drug possession‚ hugged his father Charles. He chatted with people and smiled a lot. The smile‚ surely‚ will be gone by Saturday night.