Ajose Olusegun

Ajose Olusegun (born 6 December 1979) is a British-Nigerian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBC interim super lightweight 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 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, London. The former amateur won when the fight was stopped in the first round against Tony Montana.

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 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. Olusegun, now the WBC's number 2 ranked boxer next fought on the undercard of David Haye's heavyweight title defence against John Ruiz at the MEN Arena in Manchester. The fight was to be a further defence of the Commonwealth title which he still held and pitched him against Colin Lynes, 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 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.

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

Res. Record Opponent Type Rd., Time Date Location