Terence Crawford Vs Julius Indongo: Breaking It Down By the Numbers

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

In the early of Sunday morning UK time we shall have for the very first time, a unified world champion in the super lightweight division. Terence Crawford, 31-0, 22 KO’s, and Julius Indongo, 22-0, 11 KO’s, face each other with one holding the WBA and IBF belts and the other with WBC and WBO titles.

There is one fighter who has faced both fighters and been beaten by both of them. Scotland’s own Ricky Burns, 41-6-1, 14 KO’s, shared a ring in Glasgow with each of them and came up short against them in ways that might just give us some idea of what the fight may be like come Sunday morning.

Burns faced Indongo most recently in a unification fight of their own which most casual boxing fans felt that Burns was expected to win. Actually, it was a fight that Burns went into without the full knowledge of what he was facing because very few people knew what Indongo was bringing to the table. The one fight which had received a massive amount of publicity had been Indongo’s sojourn to Russia to win his world title against Eduard Troyonovsky, 26-1, 23KO’sthat ended with him winning the damned thing with a knockout in the first round.

It made for very brief research and Burns, along with the rest of us were left saying things like, “he’s awkward and that’s about all I know.” When Indongo climbed in the ring, our precious three weight world champion who has, let’s be fair, over achieved, was beaten in every round. He struggled from the first bell to the last one and Ricky made no excuses whatsoever.

The judge which saw it as 116-112 for Indingo was at best being kind to Burns who had harboured thoughts of going to the USA and getting in the ring with the likes of Adrian Broner for a massive payday. All that has faded away, though he now has a domestic clash that is all the way a crossroads fight with Manchester’s Anthony Crolla.

So, Terence Crawford was a much bigger research project because the Burns fight brings a further 12 rounds to study. What will Crawford see?

Firstly, Indongo swings and is wild. Secondly, he starts early and has a ferocious pace at the beginning. Thirdly he has a big range of punches he can use. Finally, there were signs he can tire in the later rounds.

Of course, this is evidence collected over just one fight – there would need to be much more evidence to come to an authoritative view – problem is there aint any footage of the Namibian warrior.
Turning to his fight with Crawford. when Burns lost to Crawford it was his first defeat in 7 years. It had not been a classic 7 years and to be fair, Burns had probably lost a couple of those but the judges seemed to have been watching another fight.

It was another fight that went the distance and ended in a points loss for the boy from Coatbridge, near Glasgow, but he never looked like he was going to catch Crawford who was a clear class above anyone in his division – he still is.

Crawford did not start well against Burns and there were quite a few who thought that Burns could find an early stoppage as he seemed to be coasting after 2 rounds. It was a false dawn as Crawford grew into the fight, taking command and making sure that Burns knew who was in charge. It was a view shared by all three judges and all of us who watched it.

The way in which Crawford was able to switch from orthodox, the range of punches and his sublime movement mean that if we were to base our predictions for the fight on Sunday morning, simply on the evidence of these two fights then, as long as Crawford can keep away from Indongo’s early onslaught it’s a late stoppage or points win for Mr Terence Crawford.

Fights are, however, fought in a ring and in deed and not in words on a page and there can be little doubt that Indongo showed that night in Glasgow that he belongs at world level. Crawford though does belong at a level that is frighteningly outside the comfort zone of any fighter in this division. If he can continue to show that ability then we are in for a cracking contest. It should be a stoater, a humdinger, and maybe even a classic.

On the under card that night when Burns lost to Crawford, was one Anthony Joshua who recorded his fifth straight professional win – wonder what happened to him…? Both nights in Glasgow we witnessed three massive stars being brought to our attention, unfortunately for us, only one of them was British.

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