Indongo guns to reclaim glory

Indongo guns to reclaim glory'Blue Machine' on road to redemption The former triple-belt world champion has set his sights on reclaiming his former status and it all starts with him beating an undefeated American this Friday. Former triple world champion Julius 'Blue Machine' Indongo will clash with undefeated American boxer Regis Prograis on Friday night for the interim WBC super lightweight title in the main event of a DiBella Entertainment card at the Deadwood Mountain Grand in South Dakota.

The Namibian boxer, who is now based in Omaha, has set his sights on regaining his world champion status and needs to send Prograis packing.

Indongo has a record of 22 fights with 21 wins, 11 of those coming via knockouts.

His single loss was against Terence Crawford in August last year, when they clashed in a five world title unification bout.

Prograis has a clean record of 20 fights, with 20 wins and 17 knockouts.

Indongo, who is the former WBA, IBF and IBO champion got his crack at Prograis, after Ukrainian Viktor Postol, who was supposed to fight the American, suffered a hand injury.

Friday's bout will be Indongo's first since losing to Crawford in a bout that also took place in America.

Indongo, who is rated eighth by the WBC, intends to reclaim his status as a world champion and has been training hard since losing his titles.

“I'm very excited to fight Regis Prograis,” said Indongo. “This is a great opportunity for me towards becoming a world champion again. I know how good Prograis is, but come 9 March, I'll be victorious,” he said.

If Indongo beats Prograis, he will become the mandatory challenger for the winner of the WBC title bout between Amir Imam and Jose Carlos Ramirez.

Indongo, a 2008 Olympian, fought the first 20 bouts of his professional career in Namibia. His last three fights, all for world championships, have come on the home turf of his opponents.

He knocked out Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow in late 2016 to claim the IBF and IBO belts. The Namibian then met Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland in 2017 and added the WBA title to his cabinet to become a unified champ.

These accolades presented him with the chance to fight Crawford, who stopped the Namibian in the third round with a body shot, much to the disappointment of many local boxing fans.

Soon after, Indongo parted ways with his manager and promoter Nestor Tobias, and signed a three-fight deal with promoter Lou DiBella.

According to an article by boxingnews24 Indongo is 100 percent focused on the fight.

“He's mentally and physically ready for this fight. Some things we need to touch-up on; we are just fine-tuning things.

We're just very grateful for this opportunity,” said Larry E. Brown his trainer in the US.

Earlier this year, the trainer also expressed happiness with the boxer's performance and said that Indongo was adapting very well to America and was getting much stronger and faster.

“Indongo is an extraordinarily fast learner to the American style of fighting and our goals are to get a shot at the IBO title belt by June or July and eventually unify the 140-pound junior welterweight division,” Brown said.

“While it's unfortunate that Viktor Postol suffered this training injury, we're thrilled that Julius Indongo jumped right at the opportunity to face Regis Prograis for the interim WBC title,” said DiBella, president of DiBella Entertainment.

“Regis wanted to prove himself against the best, and he will still be afforded that opportunity when he meets former champion Indongo, in what promises to be a sensational clash of styles,” DiBella added. -additional reporting by boxingnews24.com



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