By Jim Dower: The up and coming undefeated Thomas Oosthuizen (18-0, 13 KO’s) will be taking a big test against Marcus Johnson (21-1, 15 KO’s) in a 10 round bout televised by Showtime at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
Oosthuizen, #7 IBF, #10 WBC, is moving the rankings but as of yet still hasn’t fought a 1st tier quality opponent that you could get excited about.
Oosthuizen, 24, is similar to Andy Lee, the middleweight contender, only Oosthuizen is a lot easier to hit not as big a puncher as Lee. He’s also not as technically oriented. Oosthuizen likes to hit and back away, but you can hit him when he stands in front of his opponents for any length of time. His defense is pretty much his legs.
Oosthuizen didn’t look all that great against Aaron Pryor Jr. or Isaac Chilemba. He beat Pryor Jr. by a close 12 round unanimous decision in September 2011, and fought to a controversial 12 round draw with Chilemba in November 2010 in a fight where Oosthuizen appeared to lose.
The 26-year-old Johnson should give a pretty good indication of where Oosthuizen is at in the super middleweight division and whether or not he’ll be able to make it when he eventually starts facing 1st tier opposition. Johnson can punch a little, although he has problems putting his punches together at times. If he’s able to catch Oosthuizen with one of his big shots he could score a quick knockout in this fight.
Johnson’s career was running along smoothly until getting beaten by Dyah Davis last year in April by a 10 round decision. Johnson was dominated from start to finish by Davis in a surprising fight. Johnson came back from that defeat to beat Billy Bailey in his last fight, but that was against a journeyman fighter and hardly anyone to get excited over.