Indongo seeks reboot in Wales

FORMER unified world champion Julius Indongo returns to the scene of his greatest triumph – the United Kingdom – hoping to revive a career in free fall.

The Blue Machine (23-4, 12 KOs) faces Welsh favourite and former British and Commonwealth champion Chris ‘Rock ‘n’ Rolla’ Jenkins (22-4-3, 8 KOs) in Cardiff tomorrow.

His last outing in the UK saw him dominate three-weight world champion Ricky Burns of Scotland, to become the unified IBF and WBA world champion in 2017.

But that is as good as it got for the 38-year-old Namibian, who has suffered four losses, including three stoppages, in five fights since beating Burns.

“I’m ready for this fight, it means a lot to me. I can’t wait for Saturday night to happen,” Indongo said.

In Jenkins, he faces a boxer in a similar patch who also needs the victory to remain relevant, which makes the welterweight showdown a big deal for both men.

Home turf and recent results mean that Jenkins, who has not faced noteworthy opposition to date, starts as the favourite, albeit marginally.

The Swansea man lost his final combat – an eighth-round stoppage in opposition to Englishman Ekow Essuman – and needed to additionally accept a four-round technical draw in opposition to Liam Taylor within the combat earlier to that.

“I’m fighting in Cardiff, on a massive show for Wales, and I’m selling crazy amounts of tickets. I just have to repay them by putting on a fantastic performance now. I’m raring to go,” Jenkins said.

After outclassing Burns, and knocking out Eduard Troyanovsky in Russia prior to that, it appeared as though Indongo would go on to conquer the division.

But he lost meekly to Terence Crawford, as the American walked away with all four major super-lightweight belts in the mega fight.

Since then it has been all downhill for Indongo. His trademark wild and wide shots, which served him so well when dethroning Burns and Troyanovsky, have been his downfall.

He appears bereft of confidence too and his rivals have picked him off at will, with his only success in the last five years being a TKO over little-known American Carltavius Johnson.

Meanwhile, Jenkins has not fought since November 2019 when he retained the British welterweight title with a technical draw against Liam Taylor. That bout was stopped in the fourth round after Jenkins was cut badly from an accidental clash of heads.

One fight before that, Jenkins successfully defended his belt with a technical decision win over Paddy Gallagher, in a bout that was stopped in the ninth round due also to an accidental clash of heads.

The 33-year-old Jenkins also won the WBC international super lightweight title in 2014 and is a former winner of the Prizefighter: Light Welterweight tournament.