Nigerian Born American Heavyweight fighter, EFE AJAGBA Reigns as Boxing Hero of Texas
…Says ‘I am proud to have come from Ughelli, Delta state and always re-branding the image of the Nigeria in sports’
* 25 year old Olympic Gold Medalist had 10 Fights, 10 Wins, Zero Losses
*Nicknamed ‘The One And Only’ Gold/Bronze winner in the 2015 African Games/2014 Commonwealth Games
* Rising Heavyweight Pugilist proving his moniker
*Defeats German Michael Wallisch in the second round to improve 10-0 as he made in Las Vegas debut on April 27, 2019
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN Foreign Bureau Chief, Naija Standard
HE’S PROUD TO HAVE COME FROM UGHELLI, DELTA state in Nigeria. He is never ashamed of his ‘root’, even at the height of his boxing career. No wonder he is seen as the ‘Boxing Hero of Texas’. EFE AJAGBA, a 25 year old Nigerian pugilist with a moniker ‘The One And Only’ in Texas has fought 10 serious competition, won all on knockouts without any loss.
Ajagba, a gold and bronze medalist in the 2015 African Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games has risen to the top of his boxing professional career. And just yesterday, this boxer with a weight of 200lbs(90.91kg) defied all odds at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, when he humiliated and beat silly German Michael Wallisch in the second round to improve his 10-0 wins.
For the records, Ajagba took up the sport of boxing in 2011 after previously playing football for a club in Ughelli, Delta state in 2005. He was coached by Anthony Konyegwachie.
Ajagba was selected to compete for the Nigerian team in the 2014 Commonwealth Games that held in Glasgow. He competed in the Super heavyweight division to defeat Junior Fa of Tonga in the round of 16 and Paul Schafer of South Africa in the quarterfinals.
Ajagba advanced to the semifinals where he was defeated by Joseph Goodall of Australia, meaning Ajagba won a bronze medal. At the 2015 African Games held in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. Due to his sterling performance, he was selected as Nigerian entrant in the men’s heavyweight event. He won the gold medal, beating Keddy Angnes of the Seychelles by a score 3–0 in the final.
In 2016, he won the gold medal in the super heavyweight event at the African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournamentheld in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Ajagba qualified to represent Nigeria at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
] In the first round Ajagba beat Ugandan Michael Sekamembe on points,[8] he defeated Tunisian boxer Aymen Trabelsi in the semifinal to secure his qualification,
Then in the final he beat Mohammed Arjao Morocco. Ajagba was the only Nigerian boxer of the ten who competed to qualify for Rio through the tournament, leading to claims from Nigeria’s coach Konyegwachie that judges had been bribed.
On August 24, 2018, Ajagba scored the fastest victory in boxing history in a match against Curtis Harper, winning via a 1-second disqualification after Harper walked out of the ring in protest over a pay.
