Mchunu snatches cruiserweight title from Oosthuizen
Fans now want Mchunu to go against International Boxing Organisation (IBO) champion and fellow stablemate Kevin Lerena, but the latter also has a score to settle with Oosthuizen.
Thabiso ‘The Rock’ Mchunu added the African Boxing Union (ABU) cruiserweight belt to his South African cruiserweight gong when he convincingly outboxed Tommy Oosthuizen to score a unanimous decision win after 12 rounds at Emperors Palace on December 8.
International judges John Shipanuka from Zambia and Michael Neaquay from Ghana scored it 119-109 and 119-111 respectively, with the third judge from South Africa, Simon Mokadi calling it 118-111 all in favour of the new champion.
As per the Africa Boxing Union rules, scores are announced after four rounds and after the fourth and eighth – Mchunu lead 40-36 twice and 39-37; and 80-72,79-73 and 77-73.
It was the sort of deficit that seemed impossible to undo, and Oosthuizen’s trainer and boxing savant, Harold Volbrecht, knew it.
Following the ninth round, Volbrecht said: “Tommy, we can only win on a knockout.”
It paid testament to the challenger’s dominance and rather surprising lacklustre performance by the reigning champion, considering what was at stake and the time afforded to him to prepare, unlike their reverse encounter three months ago when the odds were heavily stacked against him.
Mchunu, who completed the revenge he yearned for having felt hard done by following their initial clash, saw his record improve to 20-5-12 while Oosthuizen’s dropped to 28-2-2; 16.
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