Eight months ago, Julius Indongo was virtually an unknown fighter, heading into the toughest assignment of his career and a 7/1 underdog vs. Eduard Troyanovsky. On Saturday night, he?ll fight Terence Crawford for all four recognized junior welterweight world titles. It?s a stunning turnaround for Indongo, the man who basically nobody knew less than a year ago and is now aiming to upset one of the best fighters in the world to become the unified 140-pound champion.
Unsurprisingly, Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs), ranked No. 5 in the latest Forbes Pound-For-Pound Moneymakers list, is a huge betting favorite. Crawford is a -1600 favorite, meaning you?d have to bet $1,600 in order to win $100, while Indongo is a +800 favorite (you?d win $800 if you wager $100 on Indongo to win).
Heck, even Crawford didn?t know who Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs) was until recently.
?We never heard of Indongo and we never saw him fight other than the fight he had in Russia,? Crawford said this week during a conference call. ?We wanted the Troyanovsky fight but he decided to go with Indongo so when we heard that he got knocked out, we looked at the replay and looked at the fight?that?s when we first took notice of who Indongo really was.?
But Indongo certainly has a chance to pull off the major upset. After all, he knocked out Troyanovsky in the first round to take his belt and then impressively pounded Ricky Burns in a unanimous decision victory.
Sure, Crawford is in his prime and yes, he hasn?t remotely been in trouble while fighting in recent memory. Yet Indongo will get his chances. Here are three reasons why Indongo could beat Crawford and, in the process, upend the boxing world.
1) Indongo is a road warrior: He had to go to Troyanovksy?s home country of Russia last December, and a few months later, he stood victorious over Burns in his home country of Scotland. Simply put, Indongo knows how to win on his opponent?s home turf. And he?ll have to do it again Saturday, because he?ll be the big underdog vs. Crawford at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska (Crawford routinely sells out the arena in his hometown of Omaha, and he assuredly will get another big crowd in Lincoln). ?It shows a lot about his character and his confidence and his ability in the ring,? Crawford said. ?? At the same time he is a little older so he?s at the end of his career coming along so he doesn?t have a lot of choices for what he wants to do. He can?t wait around.?
