Ajose Olusegun is a British-

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2001 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBC interim

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 Abu or ABU may refer to: Aviation * Airman Battle Uniform, a utility uniform of the United States Air Force * IATA airport code for A. A. Bere Tallo Airport in Atambua, Province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia People * Abu (Arabic term), a kun ...

super lightweight title in 2004;the Commonwealth super lightweight title from 2007 to 2010; and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 (; ), also known as Johannesburg 1999 (), was a sport event held from 10 to 19 September 1999, in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 countries participated in eighteen sports. Netball was included as a demonstrati ...

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 an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around 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 by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. 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 town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

'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 Bradley Pryce (born 15 March 1981) is a Welsh former professional boxer. He held the British welterweight title twice, the Commonwealth middleweight title, and has challenged for the European light-middleweight title. Professional career 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 * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

.Boxrec , Ajose Olusegun professional record
/ref>

Commonwealth Champion

Olusegun scored one other significant victory, a 6th-round knockout of Namibia's Ali Nuumbembe 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 Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It is located south of Sunderland, north of Hartlepool, west of the Durham Coast and east of Durham. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68). The act als ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

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 Junior Witter (born 10 March 1974) is a British former world champion professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2015. He held the WBC light welterweight world title from 2006 to 2008 and challenged once for the IBF light welterweight title ...

. In February 2009 he made the second defence of his title, beating former English champion Scott Haywood at the

Barnsley Metrodome The Barnsley Metrodome (Metrodome Leisure Complex) is a sports and leisure facility that was opened in 1989 by Neil Kinnock. The facility is 5 minutes from the Barnsley Interchange and close to Junction 37 off the M1. It is located along Queen ...

British champion

On 13 June 2009 Olusegun challenged former opponent Nigel Wright for the vacant

light welterweight title, a contest that was only able to take place following the granted of

British citizenship The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...

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 Boxing Board of Control, British super lightweight title twice between 2006 and 2011, and the European Boxing Union, EBU European Union super lightweight tit ...

. 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 ...

at the

MEN Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as 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 space. Pr ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. 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, 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 and other West ...

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 (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...

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 quadruple champion, win world championships in four weight classes, rangin ...

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 Lucas Martín Matthysse (; born 27 September 1982) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2018. He held the WBA (Regular) welterweight title in 2018 and the WBC interim super lightweight title from 2012 to 2013. ...

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 lightweigh ...

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , , 31–1 , , align=left, Rynell Griffin , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , , 30–1 , , align=left,

, , , , 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 people of Nigerian descent 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 gold medalists in boxing Boxers at the 1999 All-Africa Games