The Fighting Pride of Omaha isn?t flashy by today?s standards, but there?s no one more effective?
Tonight at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, in a fight televised live on ESPN, WBC/WBO super lightweight champion Terence Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs), the thinking man?s boxer from Omaha, Nebraska, fights a unification bout against WBA/IBF super lightweight champion Julius Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs), the awkward southpaw from Windhoek, Namibia.
Crawford is not a household name. Neither is Indongo. But each man holds two of the four belts and has agreed to fight in the best spirit of the sport.
Crawford may be the better man, few in boxing are his equal, but his opponent is no slouch.
?Indongo is a good fighter. He is a good boxer,? said Crawford on a recent teleconference call. ?He?s got good legs and he seems like he can punch. He doesn?t let his opponent get on the inside and do a lot of damage to him.?
Crawford studies his opponents before lowering the boom. Bigger men, smaller men, boxers, punchers?Crawford never met a man he couldn?t beat. A defensive wizard, he fights southpaw and righty. The Fighting Pride of Omaha isn?t flashy by today?s standards, but there?s no one more effective.
It?s only a matter of time until he receives the adulation he deserves.
?I try to not think about that,? Crawford said. ?I can?t worry about what the person thinks about me or says about me. At the end of the day I?m the one that has to go in there and take the punches. A lot of people criticize me for who I am fighting because maybe I am not their favorite fighter or maybe I am doing better than their favorite fighter, or there is a fighter that they want to see me fight and the fight doesn?t happen or it does happen then I beat them. Then they say ?oh the only reason Terence won was because he is short? or ?he won because he was basic??there is always going to be an excuse with those types of people.?
Crawford can do it all. His ability to decode an opponent is a special gift. And at 29, he is in his fighting prime.
Thirty-four-year-old Indongo catapulted from out of nowhere when he scored a first round knockout over undefeated Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow in 2016 to win the IBF title. Indongo was born an underdog and was the underdog coming in. He had never fought away from home. He was a stranger in a strange land deep in enemy territory.
And it took him just 40 seconds.
Four months later Indongo fought a unification bout with WBA champion Ricky Burns. Indongo toyed with the Scot in Glasgow. He took him the distance. Then he took his belt.
Indongo is tall. He is athletic. He fights off the jab. He has one-punch knockout power.
?I know Crawford is a very good and tough fighter and this is a big event,? said Indongo. ?I have been in boxing for a long time and not many people know me. I believe this is the time for me to show the world that a boxer from Africa, from Namibia, can beat a guy fighting in his home in front of his people. This is the best way to do it.?
Indongo wasn?t plucked from the audience at the last minute to help some small-town promoter cover his tracks. But he?s still a somewhat unknown quantity.
?I do still live in my town in Namibia?and I try to stay focused and try do the right thing in the public. When someone becomes known to the whole country, most importantly I try not to roll with the wrong friends. I try and stay home and go to church after work and I do my training program twice a day. That?s the only way that I could say it can be done.?
Indongo has two belts. He defeated two world champions in four months and has a lot to lose.
Watching how Crawford makes him lose is what tonight?s fight is all about.
