By Edward Chaykovsky
On Saturday night in Scotland, Julius Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs) made a big statement when he dominated hometown hero Ricky Burns over twelve round to unify the IBF, IBO, WBA world titles at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. The three judges had it 120-108, 118-110 and 116-112.
Indongo was virtually unknown outside Namibia until December, when he pulled off a shocking knockout of undefeated and highly regarded Eduard Troyanovsky in less than a minute in Moscow to win the IBF and IBO super-lightweight titles.
Burns (41-6-1, 14 KOs), who last May became Scotland's first three-weight world champion when he beat Michele Di Rocco for the vacant WBA title, was on the back foot from the start as the southpaw Indongo came out swinging with powerful left hooks in the early rounds, and then never took his foot off the gas for most of the twelve rounds. Burns
According to promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, who handle Burns, there was a rematch clause in the contract.
Due to the one-sided nature of the first encounter, it's hard to imagine that anyone would want to see a second helping of Indongo vs. Burns.
Besides that, Hearn apparently has a promotional option on Indongo's next defense.
Hearn is considering several possible options, including a fight with his rising talent Ohara Davies or possibly a clash with Anthony Crolla, who would move up from the lightweight division.
"There was a rematch clause and we've got a promotional option. I'm working with him on his next fight. Look at all the options out there... unbelievable. Maybe he fights one of our 140 boys. Maybe Crolla moves up... but he's a big, big guy," Hearn told IFL TV.
But there is a big problem, as reported earlier by BoxingScene.com's Steve Kim, because Indongo owes a mandatory title defense to undefeated Sergey Lipinets, who is backed by powerful adviser Al Haymon. And the Lipinets camp is not going to step aside, which is really irrelevant because the IBF does not allow step-aside deals.
Indongo can always vacate the IBF belt and moved forward with his WBA, IBO titles - but he might be too proud to make that sort of a move. The details - and the money involved with the available options - will likely dictate his next move.
