By Jurnasyanto Sukarno

Perth, Australia. After losing his featherweight title in April, Daud Yordan proved he had since reinvented himself by capturing the International Boxing Organization lightweight title on Saturday.

In the title bout at Perth’s Metro City, the West Kalimantan native defeated Daniel Eduarto Brizuela of Argentina in an unanimous decision, making him the first Indonesian to win a world champion title in two different weight divisions.

The 26-year-old boxer raised his hands in celebration after the ring announcer declared at the end of the 12-round fight that all three referees had awarded him the most points (115-111, 116-112 and 117-111).

“I’m very happy because I achieved my goal. It’s amazing. I’m the first Indonesian to win the world championship title in two different classes. I also answered my critics by showing that I’m not done yet,” he said.

He added that he enjoys his new weight and feels great. “I’m enjoying myself … feeling much younger. People don’t know how exhausting boxing is, especially with weight problems. In my previous bout, I felt exhausted. But now, you saw me pressing my opponent, chasing and punching him from round to round,” Daud said.

He applied a different strategy in the bout, limiting Brizuela’s movement while aggressively landing punches on his opponent’s body.

Under pressure for the first six rounds, Brizuela came out in round seven and threw sets of punches to Daud’s face, cutting his right brow. This resulted in the Indonesian losing his focus in round 11.

But he tried to make the best of his chances in the final round and fought Brizuela bravely.

Trainer Craig Christian lauded his boxer for executing their strategy very well.

“He’s a good listener and did exactly what we planned before, giving Brizuela body punches to limit his movement,” Christian said. Asked about his plans for Daud, Christian said the possibilities were “unlimited.”

“I want Yuriorkis Gamboa. He’s in the same weight class as Daud and it’s possible to have a title reunification bout against him. Maybe in October,” he said.

The 31-year-old Cuban became the interim World Boxing Association lightweight champion after defeating Darley Perez of Colombia by unanimous decision in Montreal, Canada, a month ago.

With Daud taking the IBO lightweight title, Indonesia now has two boxing world champions, with the WBA featherweight super champion Chris John being the other.

The win may go some way to shifting the national sporting focus away from badminton and weightlifting. While the nation’s shuttlers failed to continue their Olympic medal tradition last year in London, men’s weightlifting saved the day with silver in the 69 kilogram category and bronze in the 62kg category.

Ryan Gozali, chief executive of student sports body Liga Mahasiswa, said there were several steps Indonesia needed to take to nurture new sporting talent.

“First, we have to convince parents and children that there’s future in sports. If parents are not convinced that their children can make a good living in sports, we will have a small talent pool,” Ryan said.

“Secondly, we have to start early. The golden age of learning is between 6 and 12 years. If children don’t possess the necessary skills at age of 12, then forget it. So, we have to start early.

“We also need to have good management for athletes. In Europe or the United States, we can see rich and famous athletes because they have good management. They need that because they only have very short sporting careers.”