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Former WBF Intercontinental
Light Welterweight Champion
Ajose “The Gun” Olusegun
never really wanted to become a
boxer. Despite his father being
a former fighter and a trainer,
as a child Ajose dreamt of
becoming a Basketball player.
He was born on December 6, 1979
in Lagos, Nigeria, and claims it
was all by accident that he got
a start to what would turn out
to be a very successful boxing
career. As a kid, he went to the
gym one day, and was tricked
into sparring with a girl who
had trained in the sport for a
long time.
According to himself, Ajose took
quite a beating from the girl,
which initially made him cry,
but later inspired him to return
to the gym to learn. As an
amateur he won the All African
Games in 1999, and went on to
represent Nigeria in the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney,
Australia.
In Sydney he lost in the second
round of the competition, to
American Ricardo Williams Jr.,
and while his dream had always
been to win Olympic Gold and
then retire, he decided he would
not wait another four years for
the chance, and opted to turn
professional instead.
Olusegun received sponsorship to
start his professional career in
the United Kingdom, initially
guided by Nigerian-born former
British Heavyweight Champion
James Oyebola. He also had
options to turn over in America
and Australia, but chose the UK
because it was easier to visit
his home-country from there.
A 21-year-old Ajose made his
professional debut on May 24,
2001 at the Royal Garden Hotel
in London, stopping, in the
first round, a man who went by
the name of Tony Montana
(3-2-2), inspired by the famous
character from cult-movie
Scarface, but was really a
Sheffield-based Serbian called
Elton Gashi.
Less than a month later,
journeyman Woody Greenway
(7-25-1) suffered the same fate,
before it was decided that a
tougher assignment, and
home-coming, would take place on
September 9 in Lagos against
Sunday Ajayi (9-1-1), whom
Olusegun beat on points over six
rounds.
Stuart Rimmer (8-22), Gary Flear
(28-27-1) and Keith Jones
(7-62-6), all capable and
durable journeymen, were beaten
in London over the following
months, setting up a fight
against local man Martin Holgate
(11-2) for the vacant WBF
Intercontinental Light
Welterweight title on October
30, 2002.
In the main event of a show
staged by World Sports
Organization at the Equinox
Nightclub in London, Olusegun
impressively stopped Holgate in
seven rounds to win his first
professional championship in
only his seventh paid outing.
After a trip to Israel, where he
stopped debutant Vladimir
Kortovski in the first stanza,
Olusegun returned to Lagos where
he finished 2002 by winning the
vacant Nigerian national title
in the sixth round against
Adewale Adegbusi.
2003 saw him fight three times
in London, beating Romanian
Cristian Hodorogea (4-8), former
foe Keith Jones (now 9-72-7) and
Karl Taylor (16-66-6) on points,
taking his professional ledger
to 12-0 (6) and a crack at his
third title in less than three
years.
On April 10, 2004 at the U.J.
Esuene Stadium in Calabar,
Nigeria, Olusegun took the
African Boxing Union (ABU) Light
Welterweight title from Benin´s
defending champion Victor
Kpadenou (4-3 on BoxRec, but in
reality with more fights),
winning by unanimous decision.
Now the WBF Intercontinental,
Nigerian and African Champion,
Olusegun had done extremely well
in a short period of time, but
he still needed a signature win.
And, full of confidence, he was
not afraid to go into his
opponents back-yard to get it.
Bradley Price (19-4) had beaten
some very good fighters, won WBO
Intercontinental and Welsh Area
titles, and challenged for the
British title, when he welcomed
Olusegun to Newport in Wales on
September 3, 2004. But the guest
didn't bring any presents, and
stopped the local favorite in
four rounds.
Olusegun only fought once in
2005, defeating former Romanian
Champion Vasile Dragomir
(11-3-1) by wide decision.
Aliaksandr Abramenka (13-10-1),
Ali Nuumbembe (15-1-1) and
Franck Aiello (5-17) were all
stopped inside the distance in
2006, but title fights were
suddenly eluding him.
However, that would change in
2007. Tough Ukrainian Volodymyr
Khodakovskyy (15-12-2) was
out-pointed in March, before
Olusegun was appointed to face
British-based Jamaican Gary “The
Body Snatcher” Reid (13-16-1)
for the vacant Commonwealth
title.
The fight took place on June 15
at National Sports Centre in
London, headlining a show
promoted by Frank Maloney and
broadcast by Sky Sports.
Olusegun would not be denied
that night, and won decisively
on the scorecards: 120-108,
119-109 and 119-110.
Olusegun defended the
Commonwealth strap against Nigel
Wright (18-2-1), Scott Haywood
(19-2), Nigel Wright again, and
former Commonwealth, European
and IBO World Champion Colin
Lynes (33-7). Especially the
knockout in eight rounds of
Lynes was a sign that Olusegun
was ready for the world stage!
With a record of 29-0 (13),
Olusegun ventured to the USA in
September of 2011 to take on Ali
Chebah (35-1) in a title
eliminator for the WBC World
title. He comprehensively beat
Chebah by unanimous decision,
and earned a shot at then WBC
World Champion, Mexican legend
Erik Morales.
Now signed to American adviser
Al Haymon, Olusegun instead
ended up fighting Argentinian
power-house Lucas Martin
Matthysse (31-2) for the WBC
Interim World title a full year
later, with no fights in
between, and was stopped in the
tenth round.
Seven months on he returned in a
low profile bout at the
Horseshoe Casino in Hammond,
winning on points over eight
rounds against no-hoper Rynell
Griffin (6-14-2), and three
months after that Olusegun lost
almost every round of a
ten-rounder to Henry Lundy
(22-3-1).
He had worked so hard to get to
the top, and paid his dues on
the way, but, when he was
finally on the threshold, things
didn't work out for Olusegun.
More than eighteen months after
the loss to Lundy, he returned
with a victory in London, in
December of 2014, but he hasn't
boxed since.
Winning WBF Intercontinental,
Nigerian, African and
Commonwealth titles, Ajose
Olusegun accomplished a lot in
his 32-2 (14) career. But many,
including himself, feel that he
could have done even more, and
that only by winning a world
championship would he have
fulfilled his potential.
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