At the Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Terence Crawford shined in one of boxing’s rare unification showdowns, knocking out unbeaten Julius Indongo inside 3 rounds to leave with the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF Junior Welterweight belts. Crawford was never in danger of looking second best as he sharply countered the taller Indongo’s rangy levers before concluding the action with a sickening body blow.
Indongo, who had impressed against Eduard Troyanovsky and Ricky Burns in his previous outings, was simply outclassed tonight. Crawford knew how to make his man pay during exchanges, and punched his early ticket home following two knockdowns, with a chopping overhand left dropping Indongo in the 2nd, and a perfectly placed counter to the body ending matters a round later.
Crawford, who rises to 32 wins, 23 knockouts, moves on to bigger nights and challenges in the ring, possibly at Welterweight where a ton of lucrative matchups potentially wait. There is also great demand for the seemingly untouchable Crawford to lock horns with another special talent, that being Vasyl Lomachenko, who reigns supreme a couple of divisions south at 130 lbs. If a super fight exists right now, that’s certainly one of them.
Indongo meanwhiles suffers a sizeable setback, falling to 22 wins, 1 defeat, 11 knockouts, but remains a solid, capable warrior nonetheless. The clock may be ticking for Indongo, 34, but he should be fresh enough to have another run at a world championship (so long as the man defending it isn’t named Crawford). A battle of big 140-pounders, that being Indongo versus fellow Crawford-victim Viktor Postol, sounds like a lively redemption encounter for both fighters. We’ll soon see what the future holds.
Crawford vs Indongo: Undercard
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk (14-0, 12 KO) faced little resistance from Craig Baker (17-2, 13 KO) before dropping and stopping his Light Heavyweight dance partner in the 6th stanza.
- Bryant Jennings (20-2, 11 KO) got back to winning ways with a 2nd round demolition of Daniel Martz (15-5-1, 12 KO), with Martz floored thrice in the 2nd round of their Heavyweight encounter
- Dillian Whyte (21-0-1, 16 KO) picked up his first Heavyweight win on US soil, introducing Malcolm Tann (24-5, 13 KO) to the canvas in the 2nd and 3rd sessions, before seizing a stoppage victory.
- Shakur Stevenson (3-0, 1 KO) notched up another decisive win to continue building his pro Featherweight slate, trumping David Paz (4-4-1, 0 KO) on scores of 60-53 (thrice).
- Battler Mike Alvarado (38-4, 26 KO) made it 4-0 in his Welterweight comeback, knocking out Sidney De Siqueira (26-13-1, 17 KO) inside 4 rounds.
Give us your two cents on Crawford vs Indongo, plus the rest of tonight’s busy Lincoln lineup.
