BoxRec

The rematch between Markus Beyer of Germany and Danny Green of Australia for the WBC super-middleweight crown has been postponed. The pair were due to duke it out again in Germany on February 28, after the controversial ending to their first fight last August which saw Green disqualified for butting. But the Aussie injured his hand in stopping former world champ Eric Lucas in the interim and has pulled out. Beyer will now defend again South Africa's rugged Andre Thysse, who licked David Starie last year but was stopped by Brian Magee in an IBO title shot in Manchester.

Appauling match for a genuine world title.
How do you come off the back of a convincing loss to an untested prospect and land a world title shot?

The sphere of influence the German promoters seem to have these days is worrying...

You wouldn't mind as much if the fight was only a fortnight away and they had to get an opponent at very short notice but that is still 6 weeks at least, surely an opponent the level of Reid/Mitchell/Echols could have been found.

TerribleTerry wrote:Appauling match for a genuine world title.
How do you come off the back of a convincing loss to an untested prospect and land a world title shot?

The sphere of influence the German promoters seem to have these days is worrying...

True, but i think it is a worrying trend creeping into Boxing all around the world, with so many meaningless "World" titles floating about it is only going to get worse.

Well as I posted on the current scene Thysse is currently ranked in the WBC top-15. So from that point of view it's a legitimate defense.

Than again...why should Thysse be in the top-15?

Dutch Windmill wrote:Well as I posted on the current scene Thysse is currently ranked in the WBC top-15. So from that point of view it's a legitimate defense.

Than again...why should Thysse be in the top-15?

Brian Magee really gave him a beating last year, one of those slow, sickening beatings.
Thysse had previously licked David Starie of course - a fine win - but Starie came into the fight woefully overconfident and woefully unacclimatised for the thin South African air. He thought he was gonna knock Thysse out in the first round (he had flattened Marc Bagero at the same venue in the first). When he failed to get rid of Thysse, he could barely stand up in the later rounds.

I don't agree with the decision to let Thysse contest the fight but if Starie can be allowed to challenge Ottke without doing anything of note then why shouldn't Thysse get his chance as well? In this situation i would much rather see an experienced pro get a chance in what will surely prove to be little more than a tune-up than throwing a novice in who could get hurt.

The only thing I can say of both the Ottke vs Starie and Beyer vs Theyse match ups is that neither of the opponents were their original choices, and while as Steve pointed out Theyse has got 6 weeks, perhaps no-one was willing to fight Beyer in Germany, knowing they must fight Green in the summer.

Six weeks is an okay time period, but if someone was geniunally ambitious, not "What have I got to lose", perhaps they'd want better preparation. For example, Jeff Lacy may want to fight a few fringe contendors before stepping into the highest level of world class.

And before anyone really starts mentioning Brian Magee, the names "Brian" and "Babosa" come to my mind. Magee was the champion, but didn't feel ready to fight him, he's undefeated and I'm sure would feel that Hasine Cherifi is not the best preparation for a world title fight.