The jarring late postponement of Tommy Oosthuizen's WBA light-heavyweight fight against German holder Juergen Braehmer that was due to take place at the Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo on November 7, has left the prodigal South African boxing talent in limbo.
Oosthuizen, whose career has been spattered with mishaps and controversies after initially being hailed as one of the country's most exciting and gifted boxing talents in a long time, will now finish 2015 without a bout in the last seven months of the year - and a detrimental absence from ring action for what appears a minimum nine months.
It has left the boxer nicknamed "Tommy Gun" and his long-time trainer and former South African champion, Harold Volbrecht, openly expressing their frustration over the derailing of what appeared an inviting opportunity of placing a wavering career firmly back on track against the now-injured and unavailable German champion.
Oosthuizen's last fight against journeyman Robert Berridge ended in a comfortable victory, but, more important, ended with him having to relinquish his IBO light-heavyweight title because he failed to make the stipulated weight limit.
"We were looking to re-establish his reputation and wipe out that memory," said Volbrecht, "and a lot of hard work has gone into getting Tommy into peak condition. Now we'll just have to wait and see where we go from here and hope we get another opportunity to fight at top level."
Golden Gloves promoter Rodney Berman, who is staging the Monte Carlo tournament, says he will make every effort to stage a Braehmer-Oosthuizen fight in the new year - but there is now no certainty it will materialise because of difficulties regarding a venue and financial implications that go with it.
In addition, the WBA continue to proclaim unbeaten Russian Sergey Kovalev as their undisputed Super light-heavyweight champion, with Braehmer curiously a secondary light-heavyweight champion.
In the crazy world of boxing champions almost anything goes and while as many as seven or eight different associations all proclaim their own version of world champions, the previously conservative and respected WBA have taken the art of make-believe to new heights by naming their own super world champions, undisputed world champions, disputed world champions - a category in which Braehmer seemingly belongs - and unified champions all in the same division.