Mchunu vows to ‘right a wrong’
Own Correspondent
Thabiso Mchunu has been listening to all the talk about Thomas Oosthuizen being the favourite in their highly-anticipated rematch, but he is banking on the fact that he has never lost a rematch.
The pair collide at Emperors Palace for the ABU cruiserweight belt next Saturday in a bout which is virtually an eliminator for Kevin Lerena’s IBO crown, a fight in the which Golden Gloves (GGP) makes no secret of and has already pencilled in June 2019.
Next weekend’s rematch will be a sequel of their September showdown where Mchunu was declared a loser, an outcome which left boxing fans and media split down the middle with some feeling the KwaZulu-Natal left-hander deserved to win.
Mchunu was so livid by the outcome and when GGP promised him to organise a rematch he knew he had been given a chance to correct the wrong.
“I am grateful to GGP for sticking to their promise and I cannot wait to right the wrong that was meted out to me,” Mchunu said.
He knows that at 30 years old every fight is important as it will grant him an opportunity to reclimb the cruiserweight ladder.
And the fact that GGP boss Rodney Berman has dangled an IBO title for the winner makes the rematch even sweeter.
All other titles in the cruiserweight are held by Oleksander Usyk, who beat Mchunu by a nine round stoppage when he was still a WBO champion.
Usyk has since gone on to win the IBF, WBC and WBA versions to add to his WBO reign, making Mchunu’s loss not as bad as it initially was.
Like any boxer in the division, Mchunu would love nothing than to avenge his loss to Usyk.
“I think in our first fight I gave him a tough encounter but now that I know him I can handle him much better than I did the first time,” he said.