Juergen Braehmer vs. Thomas Oosthuizen on November 7th

By Boxing News - 10/11/2015 - Comments

braehmer4By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (47-2, 35 KOs) will be taking an easy voluntary defense next month against #9 WBA Thomas Oosthuizen (25-0-2, 14 KOs) on November 7th at the Salle des Étoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Thill be the 37-year-old Braehmer’s second straight voluntary defense after his 9th round knockout of little known contender Konni Konrad in his last fight in September.

Braehmer last defended against a mandatory challenger last March when he defeated Robert Krasniqi. That was the World Boxing Association that gave Krasniqi a high ranking based on some wins over fluff opponents. Why the WBA didn’t have talents like Artur Beterbiev, Andrzej Fonfara, Jean Pascal, Bernard Hopkins, Sullivan Barrera and Yunieski Gonzalez ranked above a limited fighter like Krasniqi is anyone’s guess.

Heck, even now the WBA has a weird ranking by Felix Valera as their No.1 contender rather than a good fighter like one of the above talents. What that means is that once Braehmer takes care of the 27-year-old Oosthuizen next month on November 27th, then Braehmer will have another easy defense against Valera as his mandatory.

Oosthuizen is just another in the long line of soft opponents for Braehmer. This will be Braehmer’s sixth title defense, and sixth soft opponent since he won the vacant WBA 175lb title with a 12 round decision win over Marcus Oliveira in December 2013. In Braehmer’s previous five title defenses, he’s beaten Enzo Maccarinelli, Roberto Feliciano Bolonti, Pawel Glazewski, Robin Krasniqi and Konni Konrad.

Those guys are basically bottom 15 guys in my view. I actually I don’t rate Glazewski, Konrad, Bolonti or Maccarinelli as legit top 15 contenders. To me, they’re all bottom 50 guys, and nowhere near good enough to be ranked in the top 15.

The World Boxing Association has unwittingly extended Braehmer’s career by ranking poor fighters high in their top 15, and having him fight Marcus Oliveira for their vacant WBA “regular” 175lb title in 2013 rather than someone good that could potentially beat him.

Had Braehmer been forced to fight Beterbiev, Fonfara, Pascal, Bernard Hopkins, Sullivan Barrera or Yunieski Gonzalez to win the vacant WBA light heavyweight title in 2013, then I don’t think for a second that Braehmer would have ever won that belt.

I think he would have been whipped and then would have retired shortly after that unless he was good with the idea of maybe picking up the EBU light heavyweight title and just milking that belt, if you can really milk a lower level strap like that.

I’m not really high on Oosthuizen, as I don’t see him as a good fighter, and I don’t agree that he should be unbeaten still. I had Oosthuizen losing to Brandon Gonzalez in their fight in June 2013, and to Isaac Chilemba in their fight in November 2010.

Oosthuizen was given what some boxing fans call gift draws in those fights, and I’m in agreement with that. I thought Oosthuizen got beaten both of those times, so I don’t rate his record as 25-0. I see Oosthuizen as 25-2.

While some boxing fans may think that there’s nothing wrong with a record of 25-2, because it looks like a perfectly good record at first glance. But when you look at the guys that Oosthuizen has beaten to pick up those 25 wins, you then realize his record is totally padded.

Oosthuizen’s best wins have come against Robert Berridge, Ryno Liebenberg, Denis Grachev, Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna, Fulgencio Zuniga, and Rowland Bryant. Those are decent second tier fighters, but not quality enough for Oosthuizen to be given a world title shot against Braehmer. But I can totally understand why Braehmer isn’t fighting the dangerous guys like Beterbiev, Fonfara, Gonzalez, Barrera and Pascal. Those guys are a real threat to turning Braehmer into just a contender once and for all. Once Braehmer loses his WBA title, I don’t see him ever winning another title at 175 because the division has improved dramatically in recent years, even though the WBA seems to behind in what’s going on with their odd ranking system.

I don’t see Braehmer being able to ever defeat the real authentic quality fighters that have emerged recently. It’s nice that the WBA is still ranking guys that are arguably below their talent level above them, because it lets Braehmer hold onto his title longer than he would otherwise. But it’s not going to last forever. Eventually, Braehmer is going to need to fight the likes of Beterbiev, Fonfara, Gonzalez, Barrera or Pascal, and when that happens, I see him getting soundly beaten.



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