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Oosthuizen eyeing huge HBO bout in 2013

DBE
Photo by Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment

On Saturday, November 10, the 24-year-old red-hot undefeated super middleweight contender Thomas "Tommy Gun" Oosthuizen (20-0-1, 13KO's) will look to take yet another major step towards super stardom when he puts his IBO title on the line against the venerable four-time world title challenger Fulgencio Zuniga (25-5-1, 22KO's).  

 The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds in the super middleweight division and will take place at the Emperor's Palace in Oosthuizen's native South Africa.  The card is promoted by Rodney Berman's Golden Gloves Ltd. in association with DiBella Entertainment.

"I am privileged to be fighting for such a large, strong promotional team," said Oosthuizen.  "I'm looking forward to putting on another strong performance on the 10th and then returning to the US to further show my skills to the American public.  My goal is to be fighting on HBO in 2013 and there isn't anything that will prevent me from making that a reality."

The bout against Zuniga will be Oosthuizen's sixth defense of the IBO belt that he won in March 2011 with a ninth-round TKO over Evert Bravo (15-1-1, 11KO's).  In Oosthuizen's most recent outing, the South African made his New York debut and won a dominant 12-round unanimous decision over Rowland Bryant.  Bryant (16-1 at the time) was coming off a TKO over former world title challenger Librado Andrade. The Zuniga bout will be Oosthuizen's fourth for 2012. His previous three opponents had a combined record of 51-3.  Oosthuizen's is currently ranked number three by Ring Magazine, six by the IBF, eight by the WBC, and 11 by the WBA.

"Tommy Oosthuizen is the best fighter to come out of South Africa in many years," said co-promoter Lou DiBella, who promotes Oosthuizen with Rodney Berman.  "He is one of the best young 168 pounders in the world and is already a serious title contender.  The future is limitless for Tommy Oosthuizen and, in 2013, I expect him to further solidify his championship credentials."

"In one of the more vibrant, if not THE most vibrant divisions in world boxing today, the American public will see an exceptional talent out of Africa," said Rodney Berman. "We already know that Tommy is destined to rule the division, but come next year, so will the entire world."

Zuniga challenged for his first world title in 2003, dropping a 12-round decision to WBO junior middleweight champion Daniel Santos. In 2007, Zuniga stopped the 26-0 Victor Oganov to pick up the IBO super middleweight title. Two fights later, he challenged WBO super middleweight titlist Denis Inkin, dropping a 12-round decision. Zuniga would twice more challenge for the championship, getting stopped by Lucian Bute in 2009 and losing a decision to Tavoris Cloud in December 2010.  In Zuniga's most recent outing, he knocked out former IBF super middleweight champion Alejandro Berrio. 


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