Indongo has nothing left to prove
By Michael Uugwanga
JULIUS ‘Blue Machine’ Indongo has legitimately done all what most boxers are still dreaming to achieve as at the age of 37, he has only lost twice in his career from 25 fights. He is the former World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) World Super-Lightweight champion and is also considered as one of the world’s finest boxers.
Indongo was a world champion between 2016 and 2017.
“I am a former undisputed fighter which is a big dream for every boxer. My focus is to see if I will get the opportunities to fight for another world title as I have nothing left for me to prove again because I have already made history in the boxing world,” he said.
As he prepares for his next fight against Daniya Yeleussinov for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Welterweight title at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood in the USA on November 27, Indongo said his past success tells it all.
Indongo who currently resides in America while trying to get as many fights as possible, has been working hard in the gym even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He thus gave warning to his opponent by telling him that there will be war when the two boxers square up on the day.
His opponent Yeleussinov (29) is already regarded as one of the world’s feared boxers although he is still new at the professional rank with only nine fights to his name since making his debut in 2018 and has won all of his fights so far.
Just like Indongo, Yeleussinov is an Olympian having won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.
Indongo has been in the game since 2009 and will need to be in the best shape of his career despite heading into the fight from a back of a victory against Carltavius Jones Johnson last year in a non-title bout.
“I have been training hard for the past eight months now and I am fully prepared.
He (Yeleussinov) must be ready to face me because I am ready for a war. I do not know much about him as I do not study my opponents because I prepare to fight and that is how I have been doing all my life. All I know is that he is a former Olympian gold medallist and he is undefeated since he turned professional, which shows that he is a great fighter. There is nothing exciting to me about the fight because I have done it and been there before,” he said.
Indongo made history by becoming the first Namibian boxer to win three world titles after winning the IBO and IBF in 2016 against Russian boxer Eduard Troyanovsky before he added the WBA title against Ricky Burns of Scotland in 2017.
He then went on to lose the titles excluding the IBO to American great Terence Crawford, a few months later in the USA.
Indongo was stripped of the IBO title after his promoter at MTC Nestor Sunshine Tobias and Fitness Boxing Academy refused to pay the sanctioning fees.