He burst through on the scene before his lifestyle and personal ill-discipline led to an underwhelming last couple of years.
Dropped by Rodney Berman, he was taken back and given one last chance.
He moved up a division as a result, and this is the result.
Who will bother anymore?
I rather suspect promoter and trainer will wash their hands of him.
Oosthuizen loses IBO title
05 June 2015, 20:22
Tommy Oosthuizen has lost his IBO light-heavyweight title before making his first defence.
The South African, a former IBO super-middleweight champion, was over the limit when he and Robert Berridge weighed in on Friday for their fight at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.
Oosthuizen failure to make the division’s 79.38kg limit not only cost him the title but 30 percent of his purse and probably many of his supporters. It might have knocked out the rest of his career, too.
In addition, his fight was dropped to the undercard of the tournament at the popular venue near Kempton Park because he was half a kilogram overweight.
If Oosthuizen beats Berridge, the title will be vacant and it is unlikely that he will be given another opportunity soon so win any “world” title.
Berridge, who was reported to be extremely upset when Oosthuizen’s weight was read out, will return to New Zealand as the new champion if he beats the much taller, and now much heavier, ex-champion.
The South African, who has had discipline problems earlier in his career, said earlier this week he had practically been “living in the gym” and was taking boxing more seriously than before.
Promoter Rodney Berman said in the Golden Gloves website Gloves website, www.goldengloves.co.za. on Friday: “Tommy has let everyone down yet again. It’s very disappointing.
“What I fail to understand is that nobody had the decency to come and tell us there was an issue. We had to find out when he was on the scales.”
According to an article on the website Berman had to pay “a six-figure sum” for the IBO to sanction the bout as a title fight. He also had to pay airfares for three officials from abroad.
Harold Volbrecht will also earn 30 percent less than he would have for training Oosthuizen.
Oosthuizen has probably also thrown away an opportunity to box in a profitable fight in Monte Carlo later this year
The main bout will now be the ten-round cruiserweight clash between Johnny Muller and Poland’s Mateusz Masternak.
The lightweight fight between Mzonke Fana and Xolisani Ndongeni, who meet for the WBA Pan-African title, has been elevated to the main preliminary.
