It’s really hard to love Tommy Oosthuizen.

Blessed with every attribute to be a dominant world champion, he has speed, artistry, instinct and power.

What he doesn’t have is perhaps what he needs the most: respect for his sport.

Despite talking a good game this week, the unbeaten light-heavyweight returned to old habits as he came in over the limit and never bothered to shift the weight for his championship fight against Robert Berridge. Before he could look again, his IBO belt had been ripped from his grasp, not to speak of tens of thousands of Rands from his purse money; the punishment for not making the weight.

The irony was that after a career spent at super-middleweight the higher weight class was meant to give him breathing room. All it did was allow him to eat more pies.

He duly went and outboxed Berridge, but it was a tepid, timid performance that barely raised the heart rate. Given the opportunity to be explosive against a limited opponent, Oosthuizen took the safety-first route, boxing within himself and failing to unload against a man who was there to be hit.

Frankly, the dinner at Emperors Palace was more spicy.

Oosthuizen also ate a gobful of left hands. Give that opening to someone as deadly as Sergey Kovalev and you’ll be waking up in the changeroom asking what happened.

Oosthuiizen has now gone seven fights without a stoppage win. Tommy Gun? More like Tommy Bun (with cream on top).

The South African is somehow still unbeaten after 27 fights, but his career has stalled.

Promoter Rodney Berman was furious at Oosthuizen returning to his old habits. Long known for tearing up the East Rand and partial to a drink or three, the boxer has often let his private failings affect his public life.

He was pulled off a major overseas bill in January after ballooning in weight and he’s been in trouble with the law. His bosses, chiefly Berman and trainer Harold Volbrecht, have warned him, but like a stereotypical bad boy, Oosthuizen has simply ignored them.

At 27, he potentially has five more good years at elite level, but what the stats don’t reveal is how his yen for partying has taken a toll on his body. The weight fluctuations and the late nights are not good for regular people; for professional athletes it’s a short route to disaster.

It’s difficult to know where Oosthuizen goes from here. A major fight pencilled in for the end of the year has already been scrapped and Golden Gloves’ patience has surely run out.

Volbrecht has also threatened to throw him out.

The road back will be a long, hard one. It’s no less than he deserves.