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Tommy Oosthuizen will have to bring his A-game in his US debut on September 3
Top trainer Harold Volbrecht says everything is on track with super-middleweight star Tommy Oosthuizen ahead of his departure for the US on Friday evening.
Oosthuizen and Volbrecht will head straight to Biloxi, Mississippi, venue of his major fight against Aaron Pryor jnr on September 3.
Oosthuizen’s IBO super-middleweight belt will be on the line.
It will be a new experience for Oosthuizen (15-0-1), who has never fought outside South Africa, although Volbrecht has been there a number of times, most notably when Corrie Sanders, Johnny du Plooy and Pierre Coetzer fought in the casino resort town.
Volbrecht has been fortunate to have twice seen Pryor fight on ESPN. “I’m surprised he’s so tall because his dad was a stocky fighter,” said Volbrecht. “he’s definitely as tall as Tommy and fights off the backfoot. He’s not a pressure fighter, so Tommy must press the action. He has to, because he won’t win a close fight in Pryor’s backyard.”
Volbrecht agrees with promoter Rodney Berman’s assessment that a good performance is non-negotiable. “It’s a big opportunity, we know that. If he looks good, it will open doors.”
Pryor (16-3) has been a pro fighter for six years, his best win coming in his last fight against veteran Librado Andrade, who he beat on points in California in May.
August 11, 2011 at 12:19 pm, dilo said:
All the best. I think Tommy should fight naturaly. Jab and move and when he has the opening, fire the straight left or left hook. I hope when Harold says press the fight, he doesn’t mean chase the guy around the ring. That would be disaster. Why are we so obssessed with pressuring our fights by sayin an impressive performance will open doors. A win is a win, impresive or not. There is no fast track to the top. Ggp should hav learned this from the Simba fight. Don’t put pressure on these kids. Support them, giv them the correct mental training and let them do the job. If he wins by ko, great, but a ko should not be the focus. Training must be based on a 12 round points win. He is still very young. Time
August 12, 2011 at 6:09 pm, john smith said:
dilo you should’ve been tommy’s trainer. You’ve got the whole fight worked out. Uhmmm, anyway. I think Tommy is in the deep end here. Tommy is a back foot boxer. In all his fights he boxes and moves. He’s not a come forward fighter. He’s now fighting a back foot boxer on foreign soil. Now Harold is expecting Tommy to do something he’s not used to, and thats to go forward. And to go forward against a counter puncher on foreign soil. All I’ll say to tommy is good luck.
August 20, 2011 at 6:44 pm, makhaya said:
Tommy is not necessarily a back foot fighter,but he does it very well when need arises,if the strategy of the fight is to fight backward then he must do so the entire 12 round especially when coming against a Pressure cooker like Gare ,let’s not worry about clashing of styles ,this time around Tommy must go out there and knock the fucker