by Johnny Walker
South African super middleweight Thomas “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen continued his rise up the rankings last night with a convincing win over tough challenger Rowland Bryant at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan.
The bout lacked much in the way of dynamics, as it quickly settled into a pattern: the lanky, 6’4″ Oosthuizen utilized a hard, snapping left jab, landed some effective combinations and generally confounded Bryant with his superior height and reach, while Bryant bided his time, loading up for a power shot to try and take “Tommy Gun” out of the fight.
Bryant was simply not busy enough to win rounds, so his strategy was an all-or-nothing one. Though the American came alive in the sixth round, landing a series of hard right hands, Oosthuizen remained composed and showed a rock hard chin; in the next round, Oosthuizen immediately regained control with his rapid-fire “Tommy Gun” right jab.
For the rest of the night, when Bryant did break through and score, the southpaw Oosthuizen would immediately go to his body with some hard left hands and quickly back the American off. As a result of the body shots, Bryant began tiring later in the fight, and Oosthuizen was confident enough to wind up and score with a showy windmill left hand near the end of round ten.
Bryant rallied in the 12th and final round, but it was too little, too late against the tough South African.
The judges scored it 118-110 and 117-111 (twice) for Tommy Gun. Boxing Insider likewise had it 117-111 for Oosthuizen.
“[Bryant’s] a tough guy — he took some good shots and delivered some good shots,” said Oosthuizen (20-0-1, 13 KOs), who admitted he still needs to work on his defensive skills.
“I think I should work on this defense of mine, because defending punches with my face is not such a good thing for me,” Oosthuizen joked.
OTHER RESULTS
“Irish” Seanie Monaghan TKO 3 George Armenta
Heather Hardy D4 Mikayla Nebel
Boyd “The Rainmaker” Nelson D6 Khalik Memminger
Jonathan Cepeda TKO 1 Orphius White
Floriano Pagliara D6 Willie Villanueva
Zach Ochoa KO1 Cody Osbourne
Allan Benitez W6 Osnel Charles