When unified junior welterweight champions Terence ?Bud? Crawford and Julius ?The Blue Machine? Indongo met face-to-face after Friday?s weigh-in for their Saturday bout in Lincoln, neither gave an inch.
They stood eye-to-eye for nearly two minutes without blinking until promoters finally separated them.
Crawford, the unbeaten WBO/WBC champ from Omaha, lives for these moments ? or any competitive scenario, for that matter. Indongo, the IBF/WBA titlist from Namibia, won?t dismiss a challenge either.
That should make for an intriguing event on Saturday. The boxers meet for the undisputed 140-pound championship at Pinnacle Bank Arena in the main event of a card to be televised by ESPN.
It?s only the second time in the era of four major sanctioning bodies that champions will meet with all four belts on the line in a weight class. And it?s the first time unified champions in a division will fight.
Only two boxers have held all four championship belts simultaneously. It hasn?t happened since 2005.
?It?s history in the making,? said Crawford, the lineal champ in the division. ?If you don?t know, do your research. This has only happened twice ever in the history of boxing. And I?m looking to make it No. 3.?
The Omahan (31-0, 22 knockouts) is widely considered to be one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Crawford said he?d rank himself second now, behind light heavyweight champ Andre Ward.
Ward, coincidentally, is providing color commentary for ESPN for the bout. The unbeaten two-division champion and former Olympic gold medalist, who currently holds three of the four titles in the 175-pound weight class, called it a special fight because both unified champs want to make a run at history.
?It?s a rare situation because either two top guys don?t want to fight each other or the politics of the sport (get in the way),? Ward said. ?Here, they?re even, talking about the sanctioning bodies. It?s 2-2.?
Crawford, who is 9-0 in world title fights, drew the historic bout to Nebraska with his star power. But Indongo deserves the credit for making the event happen by unifying the titles Crawford didn?t have.
Almost no one outside of Namibia, Crawford included, knew who Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs) was before he scored a one-punch knockout of then-IBF champ Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow last December. He then dominated former Crawford foe and then-WBA titlist Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland, in April.
Crawford?s promoter, Top Rank, had tried to line up fights with both Troyanovsky and Burns before those bouts, but both chose to face Indongo. The former Olympian proved his worth against them.
?He?s gone over to Russia and Scotland and defeated both of their champions,? Crawford said. ?And now he?s coming to Nebraska to challenge me. That shows a lot about his character and his confidence for him to come over here to try to take some titles. It?s going to make for a great fight.?
Indongo, a tall southpaw with advantages in height and reach on Nebraska?s switch-hitting champion, has no problem being on the road for his third consecutive title bout. He?s been humble and confident.
?Wherever we go, it?s always not easy. Everything has been tough all along,? he said. ?Russia, Scotland, U.S.A. ? they?re all the same. Not that I am predicting that I am going to take victory, but it?s only hard work and dedication now. We are still on the same page. We are still of the same caliber. There?s nothing we can predict out that we fear or are doubting. All we have is focus and our game plan.
?I have not focused on anything but making sure of my performance on Saturday night. My focus has been in the gym to make sure my game will be the best ever. No one will ever forget about this fight.?
Crawford, a two-division Ring magazine champion and former fighter of the year, has grown into one of the world?s best boxers due to his versatility and uncanny ability to adapt to any situation in the ring. Indongo considers the latter trait to be one of his best attributes also, crediting it for his KO in Moscow.
?That was made out of adaptations,? he said. ?You have to adapt to what is happening.?
Frank Smith of Matchroom Boxing of England, which promotes Burns and is working with Indongo for this bout, has been impressed by the IBF/WBA champ?s confidence and desire to fight against the best.
