Windhoek
Namibia’s internationally acclaimed boxing promoter and well respected trainer Nestor ‘Sunshine’ Tobias is certainly a man on a serious mission.
The likeable former professional boxer has delivered yet another world champion – his fourth in less than a decade since entering the dog eat dog business of promoting professional fights.
His protégé Julius ‘Blue Machine’ Indongo left the large Russian crowd, and the rest of the world watching the fight live on television, in absolute awe as he made short work of his much anticipated unified International Boxing Federation (IBF)/World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior welterweight world title bout, against homeboy Eduardo Troyanovsky.
The Namibian stunned the large crowd by sending the highly rated double world champion to slumber land with his first assault in the opening round.
In what can easily be described, and rightly so, as the biggest upset in the history of world boxing, the undefeated Namibian boxer unleashed a sucker punch to abbreviate the contest – just slightly under one minute, 40 seconds to be precise – in the opening round of their scheduled 12-rounder on Saturday evening.
Unbeaten since joining the paid ranks Indongo, known as a knockout specialist in his native Namibia, enjoyed an easy payday.
The fired-up Namibian boxer left his much-fancied opponent stone cold with virtually his first thrown punch to dethrone the champion and in the process claim the combined revered IBF and IBO junior welterweight world titles.
Indongo, whose elder brother Ruben is a world-acclaimed long distance runner, rewrote the history books by becoming the first local boxer to hold two world titles from different sanctioning bodies simultaneously.
The hard-punching Namibian went into the fight as a clear underdog, but technically well prepared and nothing short of confidence.
“I would like to thank the Almighty (God) for this victory, and of course the MTC Sunshine Academy team, my mentor Nestor and everybody in my corner who helped with the preparations, my sponsor MTC and everybody who supported me throughout my career, I am humbled. This victory is indeed for Namibia and not just mine,” said a delighted Indongo after his historic triumph whilst his equally delighted handler Tobias could not hide his joy, “Surely this is history in the making – we are extremely overjoyed, we came here and nobody gave us the slightest of chances, as all boxing experts predicted an easy fight for the champion, but what they did not know is that we are from the land of the brave, the Mecca of African boxing,” boasted the man known simply as ‘Sunshine’ in boxing circles.
“We are going back home with both belts and wish to thank our sponsor MTC for allowing us to make the connection towards two world title belts and of course King Lager too.”
The victorious travelling entourage will arrive at Hosea Kutako International Airport, outside Windhoek, this morning at 07h30, whereupon the crew heads to a victory press conference at a yet to be announced venue.