Braehmer Injured, Oosthuizen Title Fight Postponed

By Jake Donovan

For years, Jurgen Braehmer has been relegated to the background when discussion surfaces of thebest light heavyweights in the world today.

Now he's forced to the sidelines, thus postponing plans for a fight that would have improved his stance in such discussions.

A hand injury forced the secondary light heavyweight titlist out of a planned November 7 defense versus unbeaten Thomas Oosthuizen. The bout was due to headline the latest installment of promoter Rodney Berman's 

“Night of Champions” tournament in Monte Carlo, Monaco. 

Crowd-pleasing former world junior-welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia will fight unbeaten Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez of Mexico in the headliner of the Golden Gloves “Night of Champions” tournament  in Monte Carlo on November 7.

“We are working on finding a new date for the event,” said Braehmer’s promoter, Kalle Sauerland.

Braehmer (47-2, 35KOs) was due to make the sixth defense of the light heavyweight belt he claimed two years ago in a win over then-unbeaten Marcus Oliveira. He remains one of the more active fighters at the top level of the division. However, he resides at a weight that also includes World chapmpion Adonis Stevenson and unbeaten unified titlist Sergey Kovalev, widely regarded as the best light heavyweight in the world today. 

A win over Oosthuizen would have certainly pushed Braehmer in the right direction, although such an outcome was far from guaranteed.

For better or for worse, Oosthuizen at his best is a handful for anyone in and around the 175 lb. division. The unbeaten boxer has seen his career marred by bad luck and bad decisions, watching several fights fall through due to self-inflicted damage whether it's suffering an injury beforehand, walking away from an opportunity or showing up above weight.

Through it all, he and Berman have fought through a rocky marriage to keep his career moving forward. 

Unfortunately, the timing of Braehmer's injury is late enough to where a notable opponent cannot be secured on short notice. If Oosthuizen is to remain on the show, it will be in a less significant fight and thus no longer in the headlining act. 

Still remaining on the show: 

Yonfrez Parejo (16-1-1, 7 KOs) makes the first defense of his secondary bantamweight title versus top-rated contender Zhanat Zhakiyanov (25-1, 18 KOs) of Kazakhstan; 

Youri Kalenga (21-2, 14 KOs) returns from his disputed points loss to cruiserweight titlist Denis Lebedev as he faces Argentina's Roberto Bolonti (36-4, 25 KOs) a 10-round cruiserweight clash; 

Venezuelan Charlie Navarro’s (25-7, 20 KOs) meets David Avanesyan (20-1-1, 10 KOs) in a welterweight bout; 

Amor Beladhj Ali (14-3-1, 2 KOs) of France squares off with China's Qiu Xiao Jun (17-2, 7 KOs) in a 12-round super bantamweight bout, with the winner to be named mandatory challenger for recently crowned champ Julio Ceja.