History beckons for Africa fistics

The history of African professional boxing will be rewritten when Namibian Julius "Blue Machine" Indongo - the IBF, WBA and IBO junior welterweight title-holder - will be involved in a unification match next weekend.

Indongo, 34, faces American WBO and WBC champion Terence "Hunter" Crawford in the US on August 19.

The last African professional boxer to be involved in a unification bout was Jeffrey "The Mongoose" Mathebula.

The former Olympian from Limpopo held the IBF junior featherweight belt, which he lost to WBO holder Nonito Donaire in California in 2012.

Indongo, from Windhoek, is the left-hander trained by former professional boxer Nestor Tobias. Indongo is undefeated in 22 fights.

Crawford, 29, is the right-hander from Omaha, Nebraska. He, too, is undefeated after 31 fights. The winner will take all the belts and become the undisputed world champion.

Said Tobias: "We have already made history for Africa and in the world by fighting for the undisputed junior welterweight title.

"Indongo had to wait a long time for this, but I told him, be patient, your time will come . and it took him 15 years to get to this level. Namibia is now world renowned because of this kid."

Indongo is the fourth Namibian boxer to become a world champion.

Harry Simon, who was trained in SA by Brian Mitchell, was the first.