We’re not afraid of Crawford – Indongo camp

By John Tuerijama
NEWLY-crowned World Boxing Association (WBA), International Box­ing Organisation (IBO) and Inter­national Boxing Federation (IBF) super-lightweight world champion, Julius ‘Blue Machine’ Indongo, is eager to climb into the ring against unbeaten, Terence Crawford, and has no fear of the American or an­yone else in the world, for that mat­ter.
This is according to Indongo’s trainer, Joseph Anhindi, who told Confidente that the unified world champion, who outclassed Scots­man Ricky Burns this past Satur­day in Glasgow, would be taking a two-week break, beforafter 22 fights. The 34-year-old Namibian was in a different league to Burns on the night, which has now sparked the prospect of a mouth-watering clash with Crawford, who is the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) champion.
“As soon as he returns from his two-week holiday, we will consider all the offers from boxing stables around the world, and we will select the best possible challenger, to fight our champion,” Anhindi said this week, after Indongo’s triumphant return. “We will then have three months to prepare for his anticipat­ed title defence, against an oppo­nent selected by our team.”
Anhindi said the ‘Blue Machine’ normally trains once a week, when there is no fight scheduled, but they would be adding more training days per week, in anticipation of the huge challenges he would be facing, go­ing forward.e resuming training.
Anhindi added that Indongo was looking to defend his world titles in three months time.
The ‘Blue Machine’ made history when he defeated Burns by unani­mous decision in their 12-round fight, with the judges scoring the bout 116-112, 118-110 and 120-108 in favour of the Namibian, who now boasts a record of 22 wins
“Indongo can go very far in his boxing career, and the fortunate ad­vantage on his side is that he is dis­ciplined, respectful and a teetotaller.
“I have been his trainer since he was an amateur, and now that he is a professional, I am still coaching him. I am very happy coach, fol­lowing his recent accomplishment in Scotland,” said the soft-spoken Anhindi.
Asked if Indongo will defend his title on home soil, Anhindi admit­ted that the stumbling block to this was the financial woes currently being experienced by the country’s sporting fraternity.
“Well, those who want to chal­lenge the champion will contact Nestor Tobias, who is the boxing promoter, and in turn, he will com­municate with us to decide on the best possible candidate for Indongo.
“The big problem that we will encounter, if we want Indongo to defend his titles on home soil, will be finances, but if the government and the private sector can come on board, we might have our champi­on defending his titles here.”
Asked about a possible title fight against Crawford, Anhindi said that they are not afraid of anyone, be it Crawford or any other boxer.
“We really don’t care if it is the American (who we will fight next); we will stand behind our champion, in preparation for his title defence,” he said. Tobias said Indongo’s achievement should be celebrated by all Namibians, as he now held the titles of highly-esteemed world boxing organisations.
He said the future was now wide open for Indongo, and that he could face either mandatory or voluntary challengers.
Tobias said Indongo and Craw­ford both have something that the other wants (unified world titles), but was quick to add that his focus was on getting the best fights for his boxer, at the most opportune times.
He said Indongo must continue training hard, while the stable re­news its focus on grooming other future world champions.
On Indongo’s next challenger for, Tobias said that they will have to consider boxers currently ranked in the top-15 of the various boxing organisations.