Efe Ayagba did better than last time against the undefeated boxer on Saturday night.
Two fights after his one-sided, unanimous decision loss to Frank Sanchez, Ajagba won what was basically the equivalent of a fight against the previously undefeated Stephen Shaw via unanimous decision. Nigeria’s Ajagba was the aggressor for nearly all 10 rounds, while Shaw seemed reluctant to take on the heavyweight contender in the ESPN main event, which aired from the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Judges Eric Marlinski, John McKay and Don Trella scored the match the same way, 96-94 for Ajagba.
“I went back to the corner and they told me to drop my hands, keep punching, punching,” Ajagba said. “I controlled the fight, so I won the fight.”
According to CompuBox, Ajagba totaled 33 more shots than Shaw (111 of 430 to 78 of 341). CompuBox credited Ajagba with more strikeouts (90-of-350 to 48-of-237) and Shaw with more power hits (30-of-104 to 21-of-80).
“He tried to hit big shots,” Ajagba said. “I was watching him to see what he was going to do. He kept throwing the jab, using the jab more.”
2016 Olympian Ajagba (17-1, 13 KOs) picked up his second straight win after Sanchez defeated him. Cuban Sanchez (21-0, 14 KOs) dropped Ajagba in the seventh round and comfortably pinned him on all three counts in 10 rounds as part of the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder pay-per-view undercard in October 2021. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After the loss to Sanchez, Ajagba underwent surgery on both elbows. Healthier and more confident, he vowed to box better against Shaw than against Sanchez.
St. Louis Shaw, meanwhile, failed to capitalize on the biggest opportunity of his nine-year professional career.
Without hesitation, Shaw (18-1, 13 KO, 1 NC) took this fight against Ajagba in less than a month. Ajagba was supposed to fight Colombian contender Oscar Rivas (28-1, 19 knockouts), but Rivas suffered a detached retina during training last month.
Shaw was already training to fight Italy’s Guido Vianello (10-1-1, 9 KOs), who was stopped by a cut from Johnny Rice (16-6-1, 11 KOs) in the seventh round on ESPN. Saturday evening.
By the time the 10th round of the main event began, it looked like Ajagba and Shaw would go the distance.
A right hand from Ajagba knocked Shaw back with just over a minute left in the 10th and final round.
Ajagba right hand put Shaw back at 1:25 to go into the 10th round.
Shaw jumped forward and fell with a left hook less than 20 seconds into the ninth round. Just before the end of the ninth round, Shaw landed a right hand from long range.
Shaw ducked a left hook in the eighth round with just under 30 seconds on the clock.
Ajagba’s left landed about 1:15 into the eighth round. Shaw’s power punch landed just under 20 seconds into the eighth round.
Shaw connected with a right hand 1:15 into the seventh round. They basically continued trading in the seventh round.
Ajagba’s power kick sent Shaw back into the ropes 40 seconds into the 6th round. Shortly after that, Show landed a left hook while they were in the center of the ring.
Shaw was more aggressive at times in the fifth round, however he was mostly fighting on the back foot and avoiding Ajagba’s power.
A sweeping left hook from Shaw connected with just under 35 seconds left in the fourth round. Ajagba’s right-left combination tied the score a minute into the fourth round.
Ajagba avoided Shaw’s right hand and quickly came back to land a right hand of his own at 1:35 to advance to the third round.
Ajagba and Shaw slipped the power punches in the second round as they again focused mainly on landing their punches.
Ajagba and Shaw traded hard blows just over 15 seconds into the first round. Otherwise, neither fighter landed consistent strikes in the opening three minutes.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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