Otniel Hembapu
Otjiwarongo-Hundreds of excited Otjiwarongo residents on Saturday took to the town’s streets to welcome and meet Namibia’s triple world champion Julius ‘Blue Machine’ Indongo to the town, following his historic victory over Scotsman Ricky Burns that saw him become a unified world champion.
Just last month, Indongo took the international boxing world by surprise when he vigorously outfoxed and outscored Scottish veteran fighter Burns – scoring 120-108, 118-110, 116-112 on all three judges’ scorecards – to unify the much sought-after WBA, IBF and IBO world championship belts at a fully packed SSE Hydro arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
This weekend, as part of his ongoing Victory Tour which kicked off in Otjiwarongo on Saturday and is expected to continue to other major towns, the endlessly awkward Namibian southpaw was warmly received by the town’s residents, with hundreds of fans scrambling for space to take selfies with the champion, while others just wanted to meet and greet their hero.
The Victory Tour started off with a street parade on Saturday morning, where Indongo and his team paraded throughout the town exhibiting his three world titles to the public, while freely mingling and greeting residents, who were clearly in high spirits and happy to meet and greet their champion in person.
Later in the day Indongo also attended the finals of the 2017 MTC Sunshine Regional Cup at the town’s Swanewelder Hall, where hundreds of amateur boxers from all 14 regions traded blows in search of glory and honour.
Also meeting and greeting the large crowd at the Swanewelder Hall, Indongo was one of the high-profile people that preceded the medals handover ceremony, handing over trophies and medals to the winners of the various categories while also inspiring the amateurs with a word or two in-between bouts.
Boasting an unscarred record of 22 fights, Indongo’s next likely opponent is yet to be announced but one thing for sure is that the world wants to see the lanky Namibian squaring off against American boxer Terence Crawford, considered the No. 1, who holds the other two world titles (WBC and WBO).