Indongo faces toughest fight

JULIUS Indongo will face his toughest opponent yet when he challenges Eduard ‘The Eagle’ Troyovsky of Russia for the WBO and IBF junior welterweight titles in Moscow on 3 December.

Indongo is still undefeated after 20 pro fights, but in the 36-year-old Russian he will face a double world champion who is also undefeated after 25 pro fights and who is being touted as the best super lightweight in the world.

According to the influential boxing website boxrec.com he is ranked second in the world, behind the WBC and WBO champion Terence Crawford of the United States, while a reporter for the Boxing News website earlier this year referred to him as ‘a hidden gem’ and a ‘future boxing prodigy.’

“Studying his tape and watching his fights, I can assure you he will beat and destroy everyone in his division – he has defence, reach, speed, aggressiveness, knockout power, accuracy and can box backwards on the inside and outside. He has a dangerous uppercut and can ring shift without much difficulty – a technique commonly used in ex-Soviet countries. His ring IQ is also high,” Boxing News’ reporter Jaime Ortega wrote in May this year.

Troyovsky has a powerful punch and has won 22 of his 25 fights via knockout, with his last 15 opponents all being stopped within the distance.

He won the IBO world super lightweight title in April last year when he bet compatriot Aik Shakhnazaryan on an eighth round knockout, while he added the IBO world super lightweight title when he beat Argentinian Cesar Rene Cuenca on a sixth round technical knockout (TKO).

Cuenca was on an unbeaten streak of 48 pro fights and on the verge of equalling Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather Junior’s joint record of 49 fights unbeaten, but lost his title (and the record) in controversial circumstances.

According to reports, Troyanovsky accidentally knocked Cuenca’s face with his knee when the Argentinian crouched to miss a punch, and was knocked down to the canvas. Cuenca failed to get up and the referee stopped the fight.

In April this year, the two met in a rematch, but this time there was no doubt as Troyanovsky knocked Cuenca down twice before winning the fight on a seventh round TKO.

Troyanovsky has remained active since then, and easily beat Keita Obara of Japan on a second round TKO in September.

Indongo is also unbeaten after 20 pro fights, with 10 coming via knockout.

At 33 years of age he is three years younger than Troyovsky while he also has a slight height and reach advantage. Troyovsky is 1,73m tall with a reach of 175cm, while Indongo is 1,79m tall with a reach of 184cm.

Indongo is currently ranked fourth in the world by the WBO and 14th by boxrec.com.

He has also been relatively busy with four fights over the past two years. In July 2014 he beat Ishmael Kuchocha of Zimbabwe to win the WBO Africa super lightweight title, and since then he has successfully defended it on five occasions, beating South Africa’s former world champion Kaizer Mabuza along the way.

The fight, which takes place at the Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow on Saturday, 3 December, will be Indongo’s first fight on foreign soil, after having built up his professional record in Windhoek, Walvis Bay and Outapi.

Indongo, however, was not concerned about Troyanovsky’s record.

“I don’t know much about him, but I’ve watched some of his fights on Youtube and he doesn’t worry me. He is a powerful boxer and he likes to come forward, but I’m also powerful. Most of his knockouts have come early, but he hasn’t gone longer distances much, so we are targeting his style and we will work him out,” he said.

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