June 28, (THEWILL) – In the continuous process of making Nigeria one of the countries to reckon with in the sporting category of unarmed combat, one name to watch out for is Ughelli-born, heavyweight boxer, Efe Ajagba. The professional boxer, who currently holds the record of the fastest victory in boxing history after his opponent was disqualified for leaving the ring one second after the opening bell, has set the dethronement of British boxer Anthony Joshua as his life’s goal.
In his determination to become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, the man, who scrapped through an earlier period of his life as a baker trying to keep body and soul together and who may have become a footballer if he stuck to that pursuit when he turned his attention to a career in sports, has proven that he is not just about talk only.
Ajagba’s current 15 victories from his first 15 fights in the heavyweight division with 12 of those victories coming via knockouts have confirmed him as a challenger. The nature of these victories has succeeded in making the name “Efe Ajagba” resonate with excellence in the boxing circuit.
The 27-year-old has come a long way, from an amateur boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and improved upon that record with a gold medal at the African Games the following year. Yet, nothing has changed in his strong desire to continue improving as a boxerad to reach his ultimate goal: the heavyweight title.
Before turning professional, Ajagba represented Nigeria at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 as the only boxer to qualify from the country and was peerless in the early stages. He outpunched Nigel Paul, his Trinidad and Tobago opponent in the run-up to his quarterfinals fight and was believed to be on his way to clinch another medal but was knocked down at the quarter-finals.
It was a learning process for Ajagba, although he lost all three rounds to Ivan Fyodorovich Dychko, a Kazakhstani boxer of Russian descent, by the slimmest of margins. In the quarter-final rounds he scored 28-29, 28-29, 28-29 and lost to Dychko. The match spelt an end to Ajagba’s and Nigeria’s medal hopes at the boxing ring of the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio.
He took those lessons forward. He was already five successful bouts into his professional wrestling career when on Friday, August 24, 2018, he entered the ring for a six-rounder contest against American boxer Curtis Harper, when the events that followers of boxing will always remember, and which had been rechristened affectionately as the “Curtis Harper Day” took place.
Harper was a heavyweight boxer with a record of 13-5 wins at the time and was scheduled to take on heavyweight prospect, Ajagba, who in 2018 was still seen as the up and coming Olympian from Nigeria and the bout was meant to showcase Ajagba’s potential for the big shot in the heavyweight category.
But, in a viral video that has been viewed by more than 760,000 people online and to the shock of all those who witnessed it happen in real time, after touching gloves to start the bout, Harper exited the ring and returned to the dressing room without either boxer throwing a single punch. Harper was summarily disqualified and the win chalked up in Ajagba’s name as his victory.
The reason for his quick departure has been attributed to his fear of the undefeated Nigerian’s reach and stamina which he experienced first hand in the ring and which must have come to play in the boxer’s perfect fighting record of five out of five knockouts and wanted no part of that. However, the boxer later cleared the air that he quit because he considered the fight money insufficient for the six rounds.
Harper was set to make $6,000 but claimed not to have known it was going to be a televised bout, which ought to have fetched him a lot more. Although his claims and reasons were patchy as they kept changing each time he was asked, history recorded the results in Ajagba’s favour and it earned the Nigerian the enviable distinction of having the fastest victory on record.
Harper would later try to overturn the disqualification loss against him for walking away based on his reasons without success. The victory for Ajagba stood and Harper’s excuses were thrown off. That was Harper’s last boxing match as he has not been in action so far since the walkout.
That has not been the case for the Nigerian who also goes by the alias “The One and Only”. He knocked out Nick Jones in September of that year and defeated Santino Turnbow by technical knockout before Christmas. His insatiable appetite for the objective he set out for himself in boxing only propelled him on and he was taking challengers to the cleaners as they came.
The American Amid Mansour retired in their March 2019 bout and Ajagba did not waste time delivering a TKO to German boxer, Michael Wallisch in their boxing clash the following month. After successfully dispatching Turkish boxer Ali Eren Demirezen by unanimous decision in July 2019, Ajagba did not get into the ring again until December when he knocked out Iago Kiladze of Ukraine in the fifth round.
It took his victorious run to 12 out of 12 bouts, making him into a worthy challenger for all comers. Next in line was a boxer with a similar path to professional boxing as Ajagba’s, the Romanian Razvan Cojanu, who began with amateur representation of Romania and gold medal victories before turning pro. Cojanu was also the first Romanian to win a world heavyweight title and was going to be a strong opponent for the still undefeated Nigerian.
However, in their March 2020 bout, Ajagba, was so dominant that it turned out to be a heavily one-sided fight. “The One and Only” Ajagba thoroughly thrashed Cojanu in round after round that he scored knockdowns in the eighth and ninth rounds. Having endured too much of a pummelling, Cojanu took a knee with 2:25 left in the ninth round and the referee intervened to stop the contest for another Ajagba win.
The Nigerian prodigy had come of age to get his Top Rank debut. A boxing promotional company, Top Rank was founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum the company, which was incorporated in 1973 and promoted such superfights as Hagler vs Leonard, Chavez vs De La Hoya, Holyfield vs Foreman, Foreman vs Moorer, Leonard vs Hearns, Hagler vs Hearns, Ali vs Frazier II and both Ali vs Spinks fights offered Ajagba the opportunity to take on Jonathan Rice on 19 September 2020.
Of all his previous fights, his Top Rank debut was the least entertaining. There was not that determined hunger for the jugular that had made him the firebrand fearsome pugilist that had become his reputation in the heavyweight division. Yet, he fought Rice with the performance the hurt the American enough to claim another scalp and earn victory by unanimous decision. But, critics began to raise doubts about his ability to keep up his form.
Then, in his most recent fight, the second time since signing with Top Rank, Ajagba put all doubters to rest, when he grabbed the headlines of the heavyweight division again with one of the most brutal, one-punch knockouts boxing had seen recently. As reported by THEWILL, it happen in his April 10 heavyweight fight against American boxer Brian Howard, a boxer with 15 wins, 11 of which were through technical knockouts (TKOs), and 5 losses.
In a fight that had gone back and fourth in the opening rounds with Ajagba earning his fair share of shots despite marching Howard down, Howard was not doing too badly either as the first and second rounds went by. Then, Ajagba folded Howard in half with a third round knockout that left the boxing shocked. He appeared to fake going left and then came back with an overhead right to knock Howard straight to the canvas.
No one saw the end of the third round coming and it was all over in an instant, such that if one blinked at the exact moment Ajagba’s right hook fell, the swing will be completely missed. It happened when Howard committed the cardinal sin of failing to keep his guard up, looking for a quick counter. Ajagba was unforgiving because Howard never got the chance to respond.
Of the 15 victories the Nigerian professional boxer has notched, one truth has become an established fact: Ajagba’s right hand is simply scary. The power it packs is better appreciated from a distance. When the punch that flattened Howard was viewed in slow motion from the reverse angle of the main camera, the devastation was clear. Upon contact with Howard’s jaw, the force of the blow produced the effect of spinning Howard’s head back 180 degrees before he collapsed, unmoving on the canvas.
The third round TKO secured Ajagba’s 15th victory of his 15th fight and maintained his steady and definitive progress to his avowed goal of a heavyweight title. On the card of the highly-anticipated trilogy of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder, scheduled for July 24, Ajagba is slated to face another undefeated boxer, Frank Sanchez of Cuba, who boasts of a perfect boxing record of 19 victories in all 19 fights with 13 knockout wins.
As per Ajagba’s goal of a heavyweight title, victory for him against Sanchez could pave the way further for him to challenge for a heavyweight title from Joshua, if he still holds the titles after fighting Oleksandr Usyk or whoever claims the title after the third Fury versus Wilder bout. He is setting Nigeria again on the global map of boxing greatness as his compatriot, Kamaru Usman, has done in the mixed martial arts of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight category.
There will be no wisdom betting against a Nigerian who has demonstrated the will, discipline, talent, wherewithal and zeal to set his targets and do everything humanly possible to attain them in an unambiguous example of the Nigerian spirit. Ajagba’s heavyweight title is coming soon as he continues to promote Nigeria’s boxing pedigree.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
