Ajose Olusegun – Has his chance gone?
Ajose Olusegun, 28-0, has spent almost his entire career on these shores being avoided.
It’s a claim often unfairly attached to some fighters, but there is definitely substance there for Ajose.
He has boxed out of the UK for his entire career, and while it has brought him some limited success, most notably the Commonwealth title which he has held for 3 and a half years, and more recently the British title to accompany it…he has continued to be overlooked on the big cards, and his world title shot, which has been threatening to come to fruition since 2006, seems as far away as it ever was…
So where is he going wrong???
The blame cannot be laid entirely at the door of his lack of fanbase, or his promoter – Frank Maloney, but both of these contribute and go some way to explaining his failure to move up to the next level in so long now.
My personal opinion, is that he has been one of, if not THE best light welterweight fighter in Britain for a number of years now, and would certainly have troubled or beaten Hatton or Witter if he was ever given the opportunity.
Maloney, as a promoter, despite having signed some of the best talent Britain has to offer, is just becoming more and more obscure, and quite simply, not enough people are getting to see his fighters.
Olusegun didn’t help matters by showboating in his early career against journeymen who were clearly outmatched, and simply trying to pick up a few quid to stay on the boxing circuit.
Audiences often turned on him, and despite his obvious talent, he has been far too often overlooked in any top class 140 lbs matchups.
He barely even gets a mention, which is even more unfair on the guy.
In the last couple of years, he’s toned down the showboating, he’s got his head down and worked slowly, and it seemed, would be rewarded with a WBC eliminator to face Alexander, vs Ali Chebah, who he should comfortably defeat if he does what he does best.
Unfortunately, his curse struck again, and Chebah pulled out of their proposed bout through injury, and he’s been inactive bar a single fight in 2010 as a result.
He has to wait for Chebah to recover, and given the WBC’s ruling to refuse to recognise Bradley as their champion, should he defeat current champ Devon Alexander in their scheduled January showdown, he may be about to find some favour at last, as the assumption would be that Olusegun vs Chebah fight would become a world title bout if things go his way.
Having just turned 31 though, and with the biggest fighters at 140 lbs, already scheduled or proposed to face each other in 2011, the potential for him to finally secure some big fights and the recognition he craves may be just as far away as it ever was.
For one of the better modern-day British fighters to go unheralded for so long, is bad enough in itself.
That he has transcended 2 generations of fighters in a very competitive division, and not been given an opportunity to make his mark against any of them, is quite simply a tragedy.
It appears that this may be another fighter following the cliche of “Too little, too late.”
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