Golden Gloves

Tough-as-nails former SA super middleweight champion Andre Thysse (20-8,  with 12 knockouts) is determined to win  a world title during 2010. Now competing as a light heavyweight, the 40-year-old Thysse has been fighting professionally for over a decade, during which time he’s swapped punches with some of the finest super middleweights on the planet!

Indeed, this fiery campaigner from the East Rand has typified the adage ‘have gloves will travel” and in his quest for international fame he has journeyed to many far-flung destinations such as Germany, Britain, Australia and Canada, and during 2003 and 2004, he challenged for world championship honours against Brian Magee (L TKO 10) and Markus Beyer (L 12) for the IBO and WBC super middleweight titles respectively.

Moreover, the lanky (185 cm) Thysse has also faced formidable opposition such as Mikkel Kessler, Juergen Braehmer, Lucien Bute, Adrian Diaconu and Saio Bika abroad and while on the losing side in those bouts, was only stopped by the once omnipotent Kessler who scored an 11^th round TKO over the hard-fighting South African.

“I may be forty, but man I’m really enjoying myself since returning to the ring after more than two years in retirement” said the genial Thysse, who also happens to be a highly successful businessman.

Having briefly hung up the gloves after dropping a 12-round decision to Sakio Bika in Australia during February 2007, the hard punching Thysse returned to action at Emperors Palace on September 29, 2009 and posted an impressive 5^th round knockout over the rugged Emmanuel Duma. “I feel great” said Thysse after the fight, “and I still believe the opportunity will avail itself for me to obtain another crack at a world title. All I have to do is work really hard during 2010”.

An uppercut specialist, Thysse has stopped a number of fighters with one of his booming signature blows, and he is also the only boxer who’s ever beaten former SA light heavyweight champion Daniel “Billy the Kid” Bruwer (2005). Then too, against the odds, Thysse soundly whipped England’s David Starie to lift the British Commonwealth title in South Africa during 2003, and feels that he’s regaining the drive and ambition that initially made him such a firm crowd pleaser.

“My comeback is definitely not just about money” said Thysse. “My various businesses do pretty alright, and I’m certainly not boxing simply because I have to in order to survive. No, with me it’s a carefully weighted option, and I firmly believe that the experience I’ve gained against some of the world’s best will stand me in good stead if Golden Gloves’ Rodney Berman gave possibly organize me fights during the new year.”

And Berman? With a knowing smile, the CEO of Golden Gloves simply stated, “Tell Andre I’ll be watching him”.