Nigerian heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba duly returned to action with victory on Saturday night with an easy stoppage success vs the overmatched Jozsef Darmos.
Ajagba, now 28, had been a major hope for Top Rank and Bob Arum as he built a 15-0 record heading into a major test vs ‘Cuban Flash’ Frank Sanchez on the Fury vs Wilder 3 undercard. But everything fell apart that night as he was completely befuddled by Sanchez’s speed and elusive skills in Las Vegas.
There may have been another reason for that poor performance by Ajagba though, and he subsequently underwent surgery on both elbows, leading to a layoff that was at nine months by the time he stepped into the ring vs Darmos.
Easy night for Ajagba
In reality the result was already a formality in this one – the now 14-5-3 Darmos was giving up a huge advantage in terms of size and quality, and it showed.
Jozsef was mainly reduced to covering up in a shell and trying to avoid the punches coming his way, as Ajagba tried to shake off any ring rust to get back into the swing of knocking people out.
Round 1 was a gentle reintroduction to the sport for Ajagba, though one beautiful uppercut through that tight Darmos guard did land sweet and buzz his opponent.
End comes in Round 2
Round 2 saw a busier Ajagba really start to pile on the pressure, and the sheer accumulation of punches started to tell on Darmos. Around 40 seconds into the round a flurry capped by a wicked body shot send Darmos to the canvas for the first time.
The end was now just a matter of time, and just before the halfway stage of the session a right to the head by Ajagba caused Darmos to take a knee and the referee had seen enough, waving it off to signal a successful return to action for Efe.
Ajagba rises to 16-1 (13 by KO) with the win, and now we wait to see who he will match up with next as he plots a return to the elite levels of heavyweight boxing.