At the SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Julius Indongo thrust himself into the big picture at Junior Welterweight by scoring a landslide decision over Ricky Burns. With the victory, settled on scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 116-112, IBF titlist Indongo adds Burns’ WBA (Super) belt to his trophy cabinet. Boxing Base praised Burns’ resistance against the tall, awkward Namibian, but saw the contest a 120-108 shutout, nonetheless.
Indongo remains undefeated, now climbing to 21 wins, 11 knockouts, while veteran Burns reduces to 41 wins, 6 defeats, 1 draw, 14 knockouts. We can expect a bit of reshuffling in the division Top 10 following another stellar outing from Indongo, who began turning heads with a 1st round KO of highly regarded Eduard Troyanovsky last December.
Indongo was punch perfect tonight, and really, besides looking a little off-balance on occasion, didn’t put a foot wrong. Indongo utilized his long levers to great effect, forced Burns back with straight punches, and managed to buzz ‘Rickster’ a couple of times. So there was never any question as to who was in control. While it’s true Burns tried his best to exploit openings with counters, it was evident from the get-go that he was in a nightmare encounter. Indongo was too fresh, too hungry, and is a massive 140-pounder.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see where Indongo is steered. While I don’t think he’s unbeatable – as long as guys like Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol are in town – I do think he has what it takes to continue making tremors at 140. Let’s just hope doors keep opening for the 34-year-old, and that big fights like these keep coming his way.
Burns vs Indongo: Undercard
- Charlie Edwards (10-1, 4 KO) put in a sharp, highly-tuned performance against Iain Butcher (16-3, 5 KO) en route to capturing the vacant British Junior Bantamweight title. Scorecards were Unanimous, coming in at 120-108 (twice) and 120-109. Butcher was simply second best tonight, and it wasn’t through lack of effort. Butcher came on strong in the final session, but spent much of the fight struggling to close the gap and find a way to negate Edwards’ fast combinations.
- Robbie Barrett (14-2-1, 1 KO) rallied back from two questionable knockdowns to hand British Lightweight titlist Scott Cardle (21-1-1, 7 KO) his first defeat. Barrett, who won a Majority Decision on scores of 115-113, 114-112 and 114-114, landed a sizable upset here, troubling Cardle with good movement and peppering shots. Cardle suffered a nasty gash from a clean punch in the 4th, and looked pretty flat tonight overall. He enjoyed a decent surge in the championship rounds, beginning with a relentless body attack in the 10th, but generally struggled to close the distance against a game southpaw.
- Featherweight Joe Ham (11-0, 5 KO) bagged win number eleven, outclassing Scott McCormack (5-3-1, 0 KO) en route to a 99-92 tally.
- Josh Kelly (1-0, 0 KO) made his Middleweight pro debut, taking on a surprisingly tough ask in rugged Jay Byrne (4-2, 1 KO) who didn’t come to roll out the welcome mat. Still, Kelly’s Amateur pedigree and silkier offense shone through, securing the former Olympian’s victory on a 59-55 tally.
Give us your take on Burns vs Indongo in the comments, plus the rest of the Glasgow card.
