Indongo wins IBF and IBO world titles

Indongo wins IBF and IBO world titlesFirst-round knockout gives Namibian victory Namibian Julius ''Blue Machine'' Indongo has wrapped up the year in style, winning two world titles in Russia. In a massive upset Julius ''Blue Machine'' Indongo stunned Russia and the world when he knocked down the highly rated double world champion Eduard Troyanovsky in his own backyard.

In what can be defined as one the greatest upsets in boxing history, Indongo knocked Troyanovsky down within 40 seconds of the first round, blasting him stone cold with a single winging shot to claim both the IBF and IBO Junior Welterweight world titles and leaving the crowd silent and in disbelief.

This victory rewrites Namibia''s boxing history, as Indongo became the first Namibian to hold world titles from two different sanctioning bodies at the same time.

Indongo went into the fight as the underdog, but was full of confidence and had the best technical preparation.

This victory leaves him undefeated, and an instant boxing hero.

“I thank the almighty God for this victory, my MTC Sunshine Team, Nestor Tobias, everybody in my corner and who helped with the preparations, my sponsor MTC and everybody who supported me throughout my career. I am humbled, and Namibia became victorious, not just me,” said an excited Indongo.

The 33-year-old Indongo now boasts a record of 21 undefeated fights, with 11 straight knockouts.

He is Namibia''s fourth major titleholder following Harry Simon, Paulus Moses and Paulus Ambunda.

Promoter Nestor Tobias could not contain his joy. “This is history in the making, we are extremely overjoyed, we came here and nobody gave us a chance, all boxing experts predicted this to be an easy fight,” he said.

“We are coming home with both belts and wish to thank our sponsor MTC for allowing us to make the connection to two world title belts, and of course King Lager too,” he said.

The team is expected to arrive back in Windhoek this morning, and will head straight to a victory press conference at a venue yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, IBF Africa president Onesmo Ngowi has congratulated Indongo.

“Namibia has reason to celebrate the great leap in the boxing industry after its beloved son Julius Indongo shocked the world by knocking out Russian and former IBF world champ Eduard Tryoyanovsky last night,” he said.

“IBF Africa takes this special and rare moment to congratulate the new champion of the world Indongo for the greatest achievement.

“Indongo will go down in history as the first ever Namibian IBF champion of the world, setting a path for his countrymen and women to follow,” he said.

Ngowi also congratulated Tobias, “who has built Namibian professional boxing industry from scratch just a decade ago and is competing with major boxing powerhouses like South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania and Nigeria.”



KAINO NGHITONGO