Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba on Saturday night defeated Italy’s Guido Vianello at the American Bank Centre, Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S., to strengthen his case for a world heavyweight title shot.
Fighting as a co-main event on the Jared Anderson-Ryad Merhy-headlined card, Ajagba did a marginally better job of navigating the several swings in momentum to walk away with a split-decision victory.
According to boxingscene.com, the judges scored the fight 96-94 (twice) for Ajagba and 94-96 for Vianello in the bout to take the 29-year-old Ajagba to 20 wins and one loss with 14 knockouts.
The Rio 2016 Olympian controlled the middle of the bout, but the most telling shots of the first round belonged to Vianella, who appeared to be a punch or two away from knocking out the Nigerian.
Ajagba had a brilliant comeback over the next few rounds, settling in for the third and outlanding Vianello two to one in the fourth. Working behind the jab, Ajagba became the ring general, marching Vianello back.
Vianello was fatiguing fast after his opening surge, launching less offense in the fifth and eating a left uppercut from Ajagba. The Italian missed by larger and larger margins in the sixth.
Ajagba’s uppercut found its target with reliability in the seventh. Vianello landed a good right to the body with Ajagba against the ropes, but such moments were few and far between for him.
Ajagba switched to southpaw in the eighth as Vianello picked his activity back up. Both men looked fatigued, their punches not possessing the same snap as those in the first few rounds.
Vianello got a second wind in the 10th, landing several right hands as he emptied his tank with a high-activity final session – which ultimately wasn’t quite enough.
