By Allan Fox: WBA “regular” light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer’s fight against unbeaten #9 WBA Thomas Oosthuizen (25-0-2, 14 KOs) is now off for March 12. The Braehmer- Oosthuizen fight was supposed to have taken place at the Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany.
However, Oosthuizen is reportedly having problems in his life that is getting in the way of his training, so the fight has been canceled. It’s unclear who the 37-year-old Braehmer will be fighting now. The Braehmer vs. Oosthuizen was previously postponed in November after Braehmer injured a hand while training for the fight.
Braehmer has been pretty selective in the guys that he’s faced since winning the WBA “regular” light heavyweight title in 2013. Most of his fights have come against weaker contenders. He’s not faced anyone dangerous or difficult like Artur Beterbiev, Sullivan Barrera, Andrzej Fonfara, Yunieski Gonzalez, Eleider Alvarez, Jean Pascal, Vyacheslav Shabranskyy or Vyacheslav Shabranskyy. There are a lot of contenders in the 175lb division that could potentially trip of Braehmer if given the chance.
Despite the fight against Oosthuizen now off, there are a lot of other similar type contenders for Braehmer to face without much risk involved. He could fight Mirco Ricci, Azea Augustama, Mehdi Amar or Enrico Koelling. Those are winnable fights for Braehmer and similar guys to the type of opposition he’s been facing since he won his WBA title three years ago.
It would be a real surprise if Braehmer were to face one of the light heavyweight champions like IBF/WBA/WBO champ Sergey Kovalev or WBC champion Adonis Stevenson.
The 27-year-old Oosthuizen is a decent contender in the 175lb division, but he’s looked like nothing special in fights against Brandon Gonzales, Rowland Bryant, Denis Grachev, Ryno Liebenberg and Robert Berridge. Many boxing fans felt that Oosthuizen deserved a defeat instead of a draw in his 10 round draw against Gonzalez in 2013. Likewise, many fans felt that Oosthuizen should have lost to Liebenburg last year in March. Oosthuizen won a 12 round split decision in a fight that could have gone the other way around to Liebenburg.
Braehmer would do well to start facing better opposition than the guys he’s been facing. He’s being matched much in the same way that WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham is being matched by him facing less than the very best in the division. Braehmer could probably make more money if he started facing guys like Kovalev, Stevenson and Pascal. He might lose to all of them, but he might get paid better.
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