Golden Gloves

The Golden Gloves Promotions “GUNNING FOR GLORY” Box & Dine event at Emperors Palace on Tuesday night (April 27) could conceivably serve up a few upset results. So says GGP Promoter Rodney Berman, ahead of several important matches for his blossoming stable of stars. “Tommy Oosthuizen won’t find it a perfunctory task coping with Mexico’s Saul Roman over a slated 10 rounds” said Berman, who views this international super middleweight bout as an important part of Oosthuizen’s development. “Moreover, I’ve promised Tommy a crack at the vacant IBO world super middleweight crown providing he wins, but given Roman’s record as a knockout artist, it’s going to be a feverishly fought battle”.

From a point of experience, the lanky South African will clearly be an underdog, given the fact that the shorter and chunkier Mexican has a record of 37-6, with 27 knockouts. By comparison, the southpaw Oosthuizen has chiselled 10 consecutive wins, 7 by knockouts but has never faced an opponent with such a menacing pedigree.

“Tommy has to be very careful indeed” said Berman, “or he could get derailed by this big punching Mexican”.

Then too there’s an interesting outing for Berman’s sensational heavyweight ‘find’ Flo “The Demolition Man” Simba (3-0, with 3 knockouts) who climbs through the ropes to face the heavier and more experienced Wiseman Dlomo (7-8-2) over six rounds. “Dlomo is no mail order job” said Simba’s manager Brian Mitchell, “and don’t forget that he (Dlomo) fought a draw with Johnny “Hurricane” Muller in his last fight”.

Incidentally, the 20-year-old Simba was voted South Africa’s Prospect of the Year for 2009 and will be looking to build on his status with a convincing win over a tough and cagey opponent.

Also, it will be highly illuminating to see how GGP’s latest heavyweight signing Johnny “Hurricane” Muller (5-0-1, 4 knockouts) fares when he takes on the powerfully built Papi Mondende (1-0-1) over a projected 4 rounds. Muller recently teamed up with trainer Harold Volbrecht and manager Brian Mitchell, and will be eager to impress his new braintrust. But Mogende, who happens to be a preacher, sounded a verbal warning at the pre-fight medical which was supported by his trainer Manny Fernandes, when he said; “Muller is a very heavy puncher but he’s really only a cruiserweight and I plan to use my weight advantage and jab to good effect on the night”. Could the 19-year-old Muller be biting off more than he can chew? “No way” says Brian Mitchell, who firmly believes that both Simba and Muller are destined for international fame. “If Mogende has the iron-chin Fernandes says he says, he’ll still be on his feet at the end of four rounds, but quite honestly I cannot see that happening”.

Lightweight action on the Emperors Palace bill features a potentially sizzling 10 round fight between former four-time world champion Zolani Marali and the murderous hitting Kgotla “Bang Bang” Baeti and while most experts feel that this bout is too close to call, the odds seem to favour a knockout victory for the latter.

Exciting Bongani Dlamini is a charismatic lightweight with exceptionally fast hands and an incisive repertoire of punches and yet there are those who pundits believe he  could have a problem containing the energetic Takalani Dangala over a scheduled 10 rounds. “Dlamini is champing-at-the-bit to fight WBA Pan African lightweight champion Jason Bedeman, but while we’d love to put that fight together, he first has to handle Dangala” said GGP Promoter Berman.

The curtain-raiser on the night has evoked a great deal of lively debate that revolves around whether or not former MMA exponent Chaz “Bad News” Wasserman will make a winning entry into the world of professional boxing. Wasserman, who certainly looks the part, will be fighting fellow professional debutant Benny Nkanyane over 4 rounds in the super middleweight division.