Promoter Rodney Berman’s fury at Bolonti was swiftly replaced by relief when he learned that the Argentine had controversially quit against Pascal in their fight in December. The fight left a bad taste among Canadian boxing fans with many saying he appeared to take a dive.
“Given this, it looks like he’s done us a favour by pulling out,” said Berman. “I had no idea about the nonsense in Canada until I spoke to [promoter] Yvon Michel. He also mentioned that there is no chance of Bolonti getting permission to fight by Canadian boxing authorities.”
In a rare battle of southpaws, Oosthuizen will now fight Robert Berridge of New Zealand (26-2-1, 21 KOs), an underrated banger who has fought world-rated Blake Caparello and Serge Yannick.
He stopped Yannick in eight rounds a year after Oosthuizen had knocked out the same opponent in six rounds.
“The Butcher”, as the Albany light-heavyweight is known, has already set up fight camp in Vietnam as he bids to upset the South African.
