Big hitting Nigerian heavyweight boxer, Efe Ajagba, walked away with a split-decision victory over Italy’s Guido Vianello Saturday at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
The Nigerian did a marginally better job of navigating the several swings in momentum after both boxers delivered a crowd-pleasing slugfest.
Judges scored it 96-94 (twice) for Ajagba and 94-96 for Vianello in the bout, the co-main event on the Jared Anderson-Ryad Merhy-headlined card
The 29-year-old Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs) controlled the middle of the bout, but he had to navigate hairy moments early and late.
The most telling shots of the first round belonged to Vianello (12-2-1, 10 KOs), the 29-year-old from Rome, Italy, who landed a right hand from distance and another from close in.
And that effort paled in comparison to Vianello’s offense in the second.
A right hand over the top hurt Ajagba, from Ughelli, Nigeria, sending him stumbling into the ropes.
Vianello landed more clean shots in a follow-up assault, then leaned on Ajagba, nearly tipping him out of the ring as he did so.
Ajagba appeared to be a punch or two away from getting knocked out.
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.
This is Ajagba’s 5th successive win in heavyweight boxing.
