By Akinwale Kasali
Just like Anthony Joshua, his fellow country man, who lost to Ukrainian, Oleksandr Usyk in London, United Kingdom, Nigeria’s Pugilist, Efe Ajagba, has recorded his first professional loss in the Heavyweight category.
The 27-year old Olympian lost to Cuban boxer, Frank Sanchez, early Sunday morning at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, USA.
Ajagba lost by unanimous decision of 98-91, 98-91 and 97-92 in an undercard bout with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder fight as the Main Event. Wilder lost to Fury in an 11th round technical knockout.
Sanchez ran riot of Ajagba, landing series of punches on him, pummeling him to the canvas, as the Nigerian could not land a clean right hand punch which he is known for, as against steady stiff jabs.
Sanchez retained the WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight Title holder and the WBO NABO titles, with 20 professional wins, 13 coming by Knock Out.
Ajagba tried to get back in the fight in the seventh round by aiming for Sanchez’s body but the Cuban threw a right hand that grazed Ajagba, who slipped to the mat late in the round. While he had his knee down, Sanchez caught him with a left, however, referee Mike Ortega called time to allow Ajagba time to recover but did not dock a point from Sanchez for the accidental foul.
Despite not landing any impactful jabs, Ajagba got through with a right hand late in the ninth round that bounced Sanchez into the ropes in the final seconds.
The scorecard saw Sanchez recording a 3-0 win over Ajagba as the referees unanimously gave Sanchez victory.
