by Tamas Pradarics

On August 19 the boxing world turned its attention to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo faced off in a rare matchup to unify the whole super lightweight division. Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) brought the WBC/WBO/RING titles while Indongo (22-1, 11 KOs) put the WBA/IBF belts on the table.

The matchup of the two unbeaten unified champions was won by Crawford who earned a brilliant stoppage victory in round three with a right hook to the body.

Indongo, who won his first two titles in foreign soils while knocking or shutting out hometown favourites Eduard Troyanovsky and Ricky Burns, has good memories about his historic unification bout regardless of the unfortunate outcome from his perspective.

”It’s been an amazing opportunity fighting the best pound for pound fighter in the world. We prepared very well for the fight and we knew that facing a tricky orthodox and southpaw like Terence would never be easy. We prepared for this fight to win because we knew it would never go the distance. He caught me and the fight ended prematurely but that is boxing, and once again congratulations to him,” said the former champion to BoxingScene.com.

The Namibian pugilist is positive he can use the defeat to Crawford as a benefit to becoming a better competitor in the future.

”I can only learn from this experience that makes me stronger. The recent years of my boxing career have been nothing but amazing and I am thankful for the position I find myself in today. You see sometimes a loss sets you up for greater things and I have no regrets.”

After spending some time with his family, the 34-year-old fighter with a nickname of ’Blue Machine’ is now back in training and getting refocused about his future plans.

”He is already back in the gym and working on improving himself and taking on the division once again. It has been a very busy and demanding span in his boxing career, travelling to two world class opponents’ home countries and beating them and again having to travel to the USA to fight the best fighter in the world. Obviously, this journey took a toll on him both physically and mentally, but that is what he had to do to get himself and his name out there and for that, we give him credit,” said Nestor Tobias, promoter of Indongo.

”The loss against Crawford has not in any way demotivated him, that has been the first loss in his career against the best pound for pound boxer in the world right now, he surely still has a long way to go and opponents to beat in this division.”

So, what kind of direction is Julius about to choose to follow from here?

”This is a division I would like to rule now that Crawford has departed. We have Broner, Mikey Garcia and a few other worthy opponents in the division, I would like to beat them all and claim my place and become a true champion again,” concluded Indongo.

You can reach Tamas Pradarics at pradaricst@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TomiPradarics.