By Terence Dooley

The Mercurial London-based Nigerian Ajose Olusegun is the man no one wants to fight, as a consequence he had to tread old ground at Liverpool’s Olympia on Friday night, taking on former victim Nigel Wright for the British and Commonwealth light welterweight crowns. 

Ajose, 9st 13lb 4oz, defeated Wright, 9st 13lb 9oz, on points last February. He started slowly in that fight before taking the final rounds, and the decision.  Ajose left nothing to chance this time around, starting brightly in the first few rounds.

Olusegun swings wildly, and widely, from the southpaw stance, his attacks took the play away from Wright, who started badly, faded in the middle stanzas, and could not change the pattern over the course of the final few rounds.

When Wright did grab a round Ajose would come back purposefully in the next session, throwing plenty of shots.  Wright had gone 2-3 in his last five fights, his career is on the slide, and he was unable to wrest the play away from Ajose, who was all business by the final rounds.

Ajose kept Wright on the back foot for the majority of the scrap, winning it by a clearer margin this time around: judge Phil Edwards scored it 117-112 for Ajose, Howard Foster had it wider at 117-111, and John Keane’s 116-113 card made it a clean sweep for the Commonwealth holder.

Olusegun is ranked number 5 in the WBC light welterweight rankings, his 27-0 (thirteen early) record is impressive, this dual title victory gives him another piece of hardware, the vacant British title, but he is in serious danger of treading water at this level. 

Ajose, 29, has nothing but a tough night’s work to offer the likes of Junior Witter, a man Olusegun wants to fight, and Devon Alexander, who is set to fight Witter for the vacant title.

Durham’s Wright, also 29, is now 2-4-1 in his past seven bouts, 20-6-1 (9) overall, he needed to make a statement in this fight, the presence of two titles on the table could not get him going, and he may not get another chance like this.  With that said, Wright did step in for Barry Morrison on two-weeks notice, this will have contributed to his cautious start, once the rounds were in the bank Ajose did not give his opponent a route back into the fight.

Undercard action saw local boy Steve Williams take on tough Polish import Slawomir Ziemlewicz over eight rounds.  The fight was a step up for Williams, Slawomir has held his national title, and had not been stopped in 24 fights, compiling a 18-4-2 (3) record in the process. 

Williams repaid his team’s faith, out-boxing and out-blasting his opponent over the course of a busy fight.  Williamson was the cleaner puncher, though, leading with left hooks early in the fight, and then bringing over right hands.

Slawomir was always one step behind Williams, who tried to make a statement in the final round, hammering his foe with left hooks to the body. 

Ziemlewicz grunted shots out, keeping William on his toes until the final bell; it was a stiff test.  Referee Steve Gray turned in an 80-74 scorecard in favour of the Liverpudlian, who was praised by his cornerman Shea Neary, who knows a thing or two about tough fights.  Neary told the Sky team that Williams, now 8-0 (3 KO’s) had, “Bitten hard on his gumshield when he had to, and (he) put in a good performance, we are very, very proud.”
 
John Truscott admits that losing his Commonwealth featherweight title to John Simpson in January was a ‘devastating blow’, however, he edged a step closer to reclaiming that title by decisioning Russia’s Andrey Kostin over six precise rounds.

Truscott is a hero in his hometown of Middlesborough; his loss to Simpson came before his own fans, a clash of heads opening up a cut that led to a TKO reverse in the eighth round of that fight.

Paul’s latest win keeps him on course for a July 17th rematch with Simpson, the teak tough Scot from Greenock, the return contest will, again, take place in Middlesborough, and Simpson used Kostin as a foil to work on his boxing skills, using the left to control the pace, before bringing in right uppercuts late in the fight.

Kostin had no answer, Truscott had no worries, and the result, a 60-54 win on the card of Phil Edwards, held no surprises.  An emotional Truscott later confirmed that he has got the Simpson defeat out of his system, time will tell.  Truscott is 13-1 (1); the lack of power is a real worry.  Kostin falls to 20-13 (6).