Indongo dominates Burns to unify belts
GLASGOW: Namibia’s Julius Indongo beat Ricky Burns in front of the Scot’s home Glasgow crowd on Saturday to unify the super-lightweight division with a unanimous points win.
Indongo put his International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organisation titles on the line against Burns, who entered the ring at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro as the reigning World Boxing Association champion in this division.
But there was rarely much doubt about a contest that Indongo won 120-108, 118110 and 116-112 on the judges’ scorecards to extend his unbeaten record as a professional to 22 victories.
“I feel very proud,” Indongo told Sky Sports. “My home crowd are watching. It’s for the whole of Africa. This is so great.
“I am very proud for opening my doors and now the world can see me.”
Burns, Scotland’s first three-weight world champion, had no complaints about the result, saying: “The better man won, no excuses.
“He was so, so awkward. He was a lot better than we thought he was going to be, he can hit as well.”
Burns found the southpaw difficult to deal with almost from the opening bell and was marked on the face by Indongo in the first round.
He gave home fans something to cheer about when he landed a powerful right hand in the sixth round, although never connecting with enough quality shots to truly trouble Indongo.
Indongo was little known outside Namibia until December, when he stunned Russia’s Eduard Troyanovsky in less than a minute in Moscow to win the IBF and IBO super-lightweight titles.
Burns became Scotland’s first threeweight world champion last May when he beat Michele Di Rocco for the vacant WBA super-lightweight title.