By Ian Aldous: Thomas ‘Tommy Gun’ Oosthuizen (21-0-1) is establishing himself as a genuine force in the stacked super-middleweight division following six defences of his IBO world championship. The South African fighter has increased his international recognition with three fights on U.S soil in just over a year. This week Tommy took some time to talk with me about his blossoming career.
After an amateur career that spanned just 65 bouts with three defeats, twenty-four year old Tommy decided to turn professional at the age of just nineteen. It’s clear that the sport was in his blood from a very young age. “I was raised in boxing, boxing as an amateur since I was young. With my dad being a former champion (he held South African titles at junior-middleweight and middleweight), I was just raised in the sport since I can remember.” His fighting style defies that of someone with just 65 amateur fights. Watching him fight, you’d be sure he’d spent much more time on the amateur circuit.
Thomas currently sees his undefeated pro career co-promoted by Golden Gloves and Dibella Entertainment. The partnership allows him to continue to fight in front of his adoring South African fans while increasing his international profile with main event fights stateside. “Being the main event, it makes you feel like you have to steal the show. The opposition in the U.S is very strong and being co-promoted by Lou Dibella and Golden Gloves (Rodney Berman) is a great honour and like Sergio Martinez who also fights for Lou Dibella, I have to show I can be a great and make a better future and be the best in the world.”
Despite his success in the U.S, Thomas loves fighting in South Africa and will not be forgetting where he came from anytime soon. “Boxing is picking back up in South Africa, there’s a lot of good young fighters coming up and it’s just important for me as well to get people talking about boxing again because boxing was very big in South Africa in the 80’s and it’s starting to pick up. The fans are coming back, the people are wonderful and that makes you believe in yourself.”
Over his past six fights, Oosthuizen has looked very competent against capable opposition like Fulgencio Zuniga, Rowland Bryant and Marcus Johnson, winning by stoppage or comfortable margins on the scorecards. The combined records of his last six opponents going into their respective fights with Thomas were 116-15-2. “If you were to look at my record, I’ve fought a few guys that have very good records, they’re very credible opponents and that’s the way I gain experience. I’m not fighting bums, I’m fighting the top fighters in the world. Rowland Bryant beat Librado Andrade by stoppage and then he said he was gonna knock me out, teach me a lesson and stuff like that. Librado Andrade was once fighting Lucian Bute.” He continued, “I should be there, I should have those belts, it’s all about unifying the division.”
It looks as though a big fight could be on the horizon for the South African southpaw and a chance to add another belt to his collection, although that will depend on the current situation that Carl Froch finds himself in. “They’re talking about the 3rd of March next year, making me against Adonis Stevenson for the vacant IBF title, if Froch gets stripped.” Stevenson is the mandatory challenger for Froch while Oosthuizen is ranked at No.5 by the IBF. Carl Froch seems unlikely to face Stevenson as he’s chasing a big rematch with Mikkel Kessler.
In his last fight against Fulgencio Zuniga, Thomas failed to make the 168lbs limit at the first attempt, angering his Golden Gloves promoter, Rodney Berman. He subsequently made weight for the fight. At 6’4”, he’s unusually tall for a super-middleweight, but he feels he’ll continue to fight at 168lbs for a while yet. “To be honest with you the reason why I had the weight problems is because I left the weight for too late, that’s how you gain experience. So, I struggled at the weigh-in to get it off but if I do it right, I make 168lbs very comfortably and maybe in a few years maybe I’ll end my career as a light heavyweight. Maybe do a Bob Foster, southpaw style. Do something like that and entertain the people.”
Boxrec.com presently ranks Thomas as the sixth best super-middleweight in the world behind only Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Adonis Stevenson. At just 24 years of age, he’s got so much to look forward to in his career which he thinks will continue for many more years yet. “Myself and Harold Volbrecht (his manager and trainer), we talk a lot and he advises me on things like when to retire and he said the latest we’ll do is 32, so after that we’re gonna call it quits.” As far as his ranking goes, he’s just happy to keep working his way up the ladder. “Well, where I see myself is basically where they put me, you know. Definitely in the top ten in the world and it’s just (about) more fights, more experience, staying busy and working to become a better fighter. Getting experience, then I’ll be ready for the big guys in about a year and a half or two years, I’ll slam those guys, whoever’s in the top ten.”
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