By Allan Fox: Super middleweight Thomas Oosthuizen (20-0, 13 KO’s) will be looking to take another step forward towards an eventual title shot when he faces Fulgencio Zuniga (25-5-1, 22 KO’s) in Oosthuizen’s title defense of his IBO 168 pound title at the Emperor’s Palace, in Gauteng, South Africa.

This could be a tough or an easy fight depending on how much the 35-year-old Zuniga has left after 11 years as a pro and some really hard fights against Kelly Pavlik, Lucian Bute, Jose Luis Zertuche and Tavoris Cloud. Zuniga lost to all of those fighters. He’s got good offensive skills and decent power, but where Zuniga runs into his problems is with his ability to take the hard shots from his opponents. He can beat a lot of the good B level fighters, but he runs into trouble when he’s forced to fight A level opposition.

The 24-year-old Oosthuizen is on his way to getting a title shot against one of the champions in the near future. He’s #3 IBF, #6 WBC, #11 WBA, and he should get a crack at one of the titles soon. But in the meantime, Oosthuizen will continue to beat the good B level fighters so that he can get a title shot a little quicker. Oosthuizen has picked up some impressive wins as of late in beating Rowland Bryant, Marcus Johnson, and Aaron Pryor Jr. Where Oosthuizen was messed up was in his 12 round draw against Issac Chilema last November. Oosthuizen fought well enough to deserve the win but the judges’ saw it differently.

Oosthuizen’s power isn’t that great and he gets hit a lot. He’s going to have to strengthen his defense in order to beat the better fighters. Oosthuizen gets hit way too much against his competition and that makes him vulnerable. His lack of power makes it necessary for him to win a lot of fights that go the distance. For example, five out of Oosthuizen’s last eight fights have gone the distance.