Golden Gloves

A November championship shootout is on the cards between recently crowned IBO world super middleweight titleholder Isaac “The Golden Boy” Chilemba (15-1, with 8 knockouts) and Tommy “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen (11-0, with 8 knockouts). “This is the one fight that everyone wants to see” said Golden Gloves Promoter Rodney Berman. “Oosthuizen the predatory southpaw against Chilemba, a masterful boxer-puncher whose level of talent has continued to surprise”

Clearly the 22-year-old Chilemba’s resounding IBO title-winning effort against Australia’s Michael Bolling at Emperors Palace on June 19 amazed the majority of experts, especially since the left-handed Bolling had climbed into the ring with an unblemished resume of 12-0, with 10 knockouts. “Isaac was a revelation” said one boxing scribe, while another called the stylist from Malawi, “one of the best kept secrets in the super middleweight ranks”.

So why is Berman matching two of his most talented young fighters? “It’s a question of economics and giving the fight public what they want to see” said the CEO of Golden Gloves Promotions. “Moreover we’ve been matching some of our finest fighters against each other for years and invariably neither boxer ends up being a loser”.

To illustrate what Berman said, one only has to think back on previous high-profile match-ups in which the loser of the fight actually prospered by the experience; most notably Charlie Weir versus Bushy Bester, Hawk Makepula versus Baby Jake Matlala and Phillip Ndou versus Cassius Baloyi.

So who wins what looks like being a titanic battle between a lean-limbed slayer (Oosthuizen) and an excellent ring tactician (Chilemba)?

“I would not be brazen enough to venture an opinion” said Berman and there are several experienced observers who share his sentiments.

The Tommy Gun is the son of former two-division SA champion Charles Oosthuizen and in 2009 this Van Dyk Park belter scooped three separate titles, namely the IBO Youth world super middleweight and light heavyweight crowns as well as the WBA Pan African super middleweight title. To his credit, Oosthuizen, whose trained by legendary former SA welterweight ace Harold Volbrecht, has continued to improve with punctuated victories over the likes of Jared “The Storm” Lovett, Cleber Alves and Thomas Awinbono. A fighter who can stick-and-move or trade punches at close range, the angelic looking Oosthuizen appears an unlikely wielder of instant destruction yet his crippling punches have earned him dividends against an assortment of opposition, among whom the most striking was national super middleweight king Tshepang Mohale, who the Tommy Gun levelled inside four rounds.

For his part, the Malawi-born Chilemba has also lifted three international titles; the ABU (African Boxing Union) super middleweight, WBC International light heavyweight and IBO world super middleweight championships. The most impressive scalps on Chilemba’s roster of wins include victories over Wilberforce Shihepo (in which he avenged his only loss as a professional), Charles Adamu, Doudou Ngumbu and the granite-tough Michael Bolling.

“We’re still five months away from the fight itself but I’m betting there won’t be a ticket available weeks before the actual event” concluded Berman, who’s betting that the eventual winner will become a household name in South African boxing.