Tommy too good for Grachev
Thomas ‘Tommy Gun’ Oosthuizen was crowned champion of the vacant WBC International Title in his light-heavyweight debut after beating Denis Grachev in a lacklustre 12-round main event fight at Emperors Palace on Saturday, November 15.
The lanky southpaw showed great composure to maintain control of the bout despite Grachev forcing him to fight at close quarters by staying in the former IBO super-middleweight champion’s face.
Oosthuizen (26) lead 39-37 on two cards with the third card calling it a draw at 38-apiece after four rounds; the pattern remained the same after the eighth as the he led 78-74 on two cards with the third card calling it 78-all before he claimed his technical knockout win.
The 32-year-old Grachev whose not one to back-off to his opponent, took full advantage of Oosthuizen’s absence from the ring in almost a year, as the Russia international landed some powerful punches in the early exchanges.
The win improved Oosthuizen’s professional record to 24-0-2, including 13 knock-outs, while Grachev dropped to 13-5-1 with eight knock-outs.
The clash, which generated a significant amount of hype stirred by Oosthuizen’s long-awaited return to the ring, suffered from a somewhat anti-climactic ending however.
Grachev’s trainer, former world champion Chris Byrd, requested to the referee to halt the bout after the tenth round, and again insisted after the penultimate round that his fighter was unable to go all the way.
When the official agreed to abruptly end what had begun to resemble a public sparring session, Oosthuizen was declared the winner by TKO.
Still in the same fight card, Johnny “The Hurricane” Muller edged Kevin “KO Kid” Lerena in a heated 10-round cruiserweight fight which resembled a main event.
The crowd-splitting, testosterone-ridden duel saw on-lookers shout Muller’s name while some quarters rooted for Lerena as the bout threatened to turn into a brawl at times.
The hefty Lerena (22), who came into the bout undefeated, took it to Muller in the early exchanges with an array of powerful punches.
He found himself under pressure however, as Muller gradually assumed ascendency in the latter stages of the bout with some damaging shots to the face.
Muller, the SA light-heavyweight and the WBC silver belt champion, took his record to 17-4, while Lerena’s first taste of defeat meant that his tally falls to 11-1.
The three officials scored it 97-93 on two cards and 98-92 on the third after the entertaining battle.
Golden Gloves Promotions’ next event is scheduled for March next year at the same venue, with promoter Rodney Berman announcing a star-studded card including Muller, Lerena, Oosthuizen and Ryno Liebenberg, amongst others. – @SabeloBoksburg
