Ajose Olusegun is a British- Nigerian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He challenged once for the

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

super lightweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

in 2012. At regional level, he held the ABU super lightweight title in 2004;the Commonwealth super lightweight title from 2007 to 2010; and the British super lightweight title in 2009. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light welterweight division at the

1999 All-Africa Games The 7th All-Africa Games were held from September 10, 1999, to September 19, 1999, in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 countries participated in eighteen sports. Netball was included as a demonstration sport. The South Africans hosted abou ...

and represented Nigeria at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Boxing career

Early professional career

Ajose began his career as a professional in May 2001 at the Royal Gardens Hotel in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London. The former amateur won when the fight was stopped in the first round against Tony Montana. After compiling a ledger of 6-0 he won his first career title, the lightly regarded WBF Inter-continental title against

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

's Martin Holgate. He followed that win by collecting the Nigerian

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title and the African Boxing Union title at the same weight. In September 2004 having compiled a record of 13-0 he met possibly his toughest test when he scored a 4th round win over the talented Bradley Pryce in the Newport Centre in

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

.Boxrec , Ajose Olusegun professional record
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Commonwealth Champion

Olusegun scored one other significant victory, a 6th-round knockout of Namibia's

Ali Nuumbembe Paulus Ali Nuumbembe (born 24 June 1978 in Oshakati, Oshana Region, Namibia) is a Namibian welterweight boxer. Nicknamed "The Silent Assassin", Nuumbembe is a former Commonwealth champion who represented Namibia at the 2000 Summer Olympics and t ...

in June 2006 before getting the chance a year later to fight for the vacant Commonwealth light welterweight title against Stoke's Gary Reid. Olusegun had been due to fight for the crown 18 months before when then opponent

Colin Lynes Colin Lynes (born 26 November 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2017. He held the IBO super lightweight title from 2004 to 2005. At regional level, he held the British super lightweight title in 2007; the E ...

pulled out with just 10 days to go. Discussing the fight beforehand, Olusegun said, "I have great respect for Gary Reid as he is the only British based fighter who is willing to get into the ring with me". Bemoaning the fact that he found it tough to find opponents, he added, “I am desperate to fight the best but the best don't want to fight me. I am a lonely shark in the light welterweight ocean." Olusegun ended up winning a unanimous points decision over 12 rounds. The first defence of his title was made in February 2008 when Ajose beat Nigel Wright in Peterlee, Durham again over 12 rounds. Following the defence Olusegun won three non-title fights with the intention of staying busy whilst calling out the likes of former WBC champion Junior Witter. In February 2009 he made the second defence of his title, beating former English champion Scott Haywood at the Barnsley Metrodome.

British champion

On 13 June 2009 Olusegun challenged former opponent Nigel Wright for the vacant British light welterweight title, a contest that was only able to take place following the granted of British citizenship to Olusegun on the grounds of residency. Also on the line was the Commonwealth title that the two boxers had previously fought for in February 2008. Olusegun again won the contest with a unanimous points decision to become a two-belt champion. Rather than defending the British belt however Olusegun gave it up choosing to take the opportunity to fight in a World title eliminator instead against undefeated Romanian boxer Ionut Dan in a bout which was scheduled take place on 9 October 2009. The bout against Dan however never materialized and in the intervening period the title was won by

Lenny Daws Lenny Daws (born 29 December 1978) is a British professional boxer. He held the British super lightweight title twice between 2006 and 2011, and the EBU European Union super lightweight title between 2012 and 2014. Boxing career Early professi ...

. Olusegun, now the WBC's number 2 ranked boxer next fought on the undercard of David Haye's heavyweight title defence against

John Ruiz John Ruiz (born January 4, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a wo ...

at the

MEN Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...

in Manchester. The fight was to be a further defence of the Commonwealth title which he still held and pitched him against

, a man he had been scheduled to fight once before. The defence on 3 April 2010 saw him retain the belt for the fourth time against Lynes who was also a former British champion and who had also held the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

belt. On 12 February 2011 Olusegun competed in a non-title six round fight beating Polish journeyman Arek Malek with a World title eliminator still not having come to fruition.

WBC World title eliminator

Olusegun finally became the

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...

for the WBC light welterweight title on 30 September 2011 with a win over Frenchman Ali Chebah in California. The fight, which went the 12 round distance, saw Olusegun put his opponent down twice in the 3rd round to line up a potential fight against current champion

Erik Morales Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (; born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world titles in four different weight classes, having held the WBC ...

for the full title.Eastside boxing , Olusegun and Chebah go to war in American debut
/ref>

Interim WBC Light Welterweight title

After winning a WBC World title eliminator, Olusegun was then out of the ring for over a year. He was then set to fight hard hitting Argentinian Lucas Matthysse on 8 September 2012. The first few rounds were good exchanges for the two brawlers. However, on the tenth round the hard punches from the Argentinian proved too much for the unbeaten Nigerian and therefore the referee stopped the fight via 10th Round TKO.

Professional record

, - style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 32 Wins (14 Knockouts), 2 Defeats, 0 Draws , - style="text-align:center; margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%; background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Res. , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Rd., Time , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - align=center , Win , , 32–2 , , align=left, Ivans Levickis , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , , 31–2 , , align=left,

Henry Lundy Henry "Hank" Lundy (born January 3, 1984) is a professional American boxer. He has challenged once for the WBO junior welterweight title in 2016, having previously held the regional WBO– NABO lightweight title in 2010, and the NABF lightweig ...

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , , 31–1 , , align=left, Rynell Griffin , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , , 30–1 , , align=left, Lucas Matthysse , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , , 30–0 , , align=left, Ali Chebah , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olusegun, Ajose Nigerian male boxers Yoruba sportspeople English sportspeople of Nigerian descent 1979 births Living people Light-welterweight boxers African Boxing Union champions Olympic boxers for Nigeria Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics English people of Yoruba descent British male boxers African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1999 All-Africa Games