No belt, no pay, no promoter. He won?
THOMAS “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen may have won the battle for the vacant IBO light heavyweight title against Robert “The Butcher” Berridge at Emperors Palace on Saturday night, but the crownless champion has an even bigger challenge — finding a new promoter.
Rodney Berman, who has been in charge of the boxer’s career since 2008, told Times Media after the boxer’s unanimous points win against the New Zealander that Oosthuizen must look for a new promoter.
Berman was obviously annoyed by Oosthuizen’s failure to make the weight limit on Friday, which meant he forfeited the IBO title in spite of winning the fight.
“He does not want to grow up and be responsible. Thomas is such a talented boy, but we cannot continue promoting him,” said Berman, whose Golden Gloves company was in charge of promoting the fight on Saturday night.
So Oosthuizen’s unanimous points win meant nothing because he went home empty-handed due to his failure to make the weight. His longtime trainer Harold Volbrecht — who has guided the left-hander to 25 wins and two draws — also threatened to part ways with the boxer in the immediate aftermath of his failure to make the weight.
“I have gone through a lot with Tommy. I am done with him after this fight,” said an annoyed Volbrecht.
The boxer also failed to make the weight limit for the defence of his IBO super middleweight last year.
Meanwhile, Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni was disappointing in his eagerly awaited debut under the new management of trainer Colin Nathan.
The East Londoner promised to knock out Mzonke “The Rose of Khayelitsha” Fana and end the career of the 41-year-old veteran. But Ndongeni, 25, came nowhere near that and, instead, was lucky to be presented a majority points decision to win the WBA Pan African lightweight title.
Judges Joe Chaane and Tony Nyangiwe were wide of the mark with their scores of 115-113 for Ndongeni. Even Wally Snowball’s draw (114-114) did not give a true reflection of what happened inside the ring.
Fana collected enough points with his stabbing jab while bobbing and weaving his way out of any potential trouble.
The verdict was booed by sections of the diners who came in big numbers for Berman’s box-and-dine tournament.