'Tamed' Tommy Gun says (again) he's ready to chase his fistic dream

This time, says Thomas Oosthuizen, it’s for real. 

The talented but troubled pugilist known as Tommy Gun returns to the ring on Sunday, though for the first time he will box as a married man, topping a bill staged by his promoter wife Jani Hebler. 

The 34-year-old takes on unheralded Limbani Lano of Malawi at the Carousel casino, north of Pretoria, in a bid to get his career back on track. 

Oosthuizen admits his bad boy past, which involved stints in jail, drug addiction and public fights, had followed him around like “a ghost”, but he says he’s now on the straight and narrow and looking to fulfil his potential. 

It’s a line boxing fans have heard before, and while some may be sceptical, his biggest supporter, Hebler, isn’t. 

“He’s done his 12-step programme,” said the promoter, who is keeping her surname for the time being. “There are a lot of people who don’t want to hear the success story. 

“I can tell you now he’s victorious. He’s a determined man and I don’t think we’ve even seen the half of what he’s capable of because I don’t think he’s ever been exposed to the healthy environment that he’s in right now.”

Hebler said she “used to drink profusely”, drinking a bottle or two of wine a day before giving it up six years ago. “We’re not going to places where we’re drinking and so it’s not something that crosses his mind.” 

Oosthuizen said he had learnt how to cope with his demons.

“I finished the 12-step programme at the end of last year, early this year. I’ve done anger management, social skills. I still every now and then see the psychologist. That keeps me really grounded, keeps my head together. 

“Just to speak about things is such a good remedy. I would keep things in and just go jog and jog and jog, and it would be such a good frustration builder for boxing, but at the same time it’s not a very good outlet.”

But he admitted his past followed him “like a ghost”. “My mistakes were exposed to the world so I took a lot of heat. And I think the heat that I took and the immaturity and the way that I handled it wasn’t right because it came down as a heavy load.”

Through it all there’s a belief Oosthuizen still has what it takes. 

“I think he realises this is his last shot,” said Sean Smith, Oosthuizen’s trainer for the past two months. “[When] I was approached I said to him ‘it’s up to you what you want to make of it’. 

“I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him spar, he’s still got something special. To me he’s just a natural-born fighter.”

Hebler argued that Oosthuizen was ready to take this chance. “Now he’s got the emotional and mental maturity to handle what is coming. He’s got his own focus, I don’t need to tell him. 

“What I can tell you, in the morning he gets up and does his 10km. I don’t have to wake him up to do it, he does it. In the evenings he does his sit-ups, he does his things. That’s after he’s done his training and conditioning.”

Oosthuizen and Hebler got married on the spur of the moment about a month ago, and the plan is to get their rings tattooed. 

“[That way] I won’t lose the ring, I won’t get into trouble,” said Oosthuizen. “Wrapping hands, taking it on and off. I’m very clumsy with silly things, my cellphone keeps falling and eventually the screen cracks.”

There was no shortage of acquaintances warning them off each other since they started dating more than a year ago, but they insist they are a natural fit. 

“We’re in an industry that’s very difficult on relationships if your partner doesn’t understand it,” said Hebler. “When we got together it’s like a passion that got together. 

“His strengths are my weaknesses and my strengths are his weaknesses ... He’s like my best friend, we love God equally, we love the sport equally ... from that perspective it was a match made in heaven.”

Oosthuizen agreed. “Jani knows every side of me. And I need a mature woman. She’ a mature woman. I’m not an easy guy to handle, I can be a handful. It takes a strong woman to get through to me.”

There is an age gap, though Hebler declined to disclose it.  

With a background in marketing and branding — “making things shiny”, as she calls it — Hebler says Oosthuizen is an easy project. “It’s not difficult at all. He’s a natural.

“We have business partnerships and ventures that we’re working on and we invest equally ... next year we’re launching a couple of things. We complement each other, especially in business.”

On Sunday he conducts his business in the ring. 

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