Hank Lundy W UD Ajose Olusegun: Review

By Peter Wells (twitter- @boxingbrains):

Lundy(Right) catches Ajose(Left) on the chin with a sharp jab

For Ajose Olusegun last night was far, far from the way himself and his team had envisioned the fight going. Ajose wasn't the only one surprised, as almost all boxing fans believed that Ajose would come out on top, but what took place was far too similar to the beating Ajose took at the hands of Lucas Matthysse rather than the beatings Ajose was offering out to his opponents at a lower level.

While Lundy's performance was exceptional, Ajose's lacked in almost all departments. There was little snap in his punches and it seemed after the 5th round he lost all confidence in his ability to keep Lundy off him. Sadly it seems that inactivity and the beating at the hands of Lucas Matthysse has finally caught up with the 33 year old boxer.

But while Ajose seems to have faded their is no denying that Hank Lundy put in one of his best career performances to date. In winning, the Philadelphian fighter snapped a two-fight losing streak and will now find himself in a solid position for a shot at one of the top 10 fighters. This win will also ensure he has a high ranking with the WBC, a shot at their interim title could be next.

As I expected their was no cautious start between the pair, as both went to work early. But rather than trying to initiate himself off the front foot, Ajose was backpedalling early. This caused trouble as Lundy began to stalk his opponent who kept a good early work rate.

While Ajose was throwing a high volume of punches, they clearly didn't have the sufficient zip behind them to derail 'Hammerin' Hank who continued to steam forward, throwing more and more as the rounds ticked by.

In the 5th stanza, Ajose was shaken and used his incredible balance and conditioning to stay upright. But the tone was set and several more shaky moments followed before the final bell.

In the 2nd half of the contest, the punches were no longer flowing in any clean rhythm for Ajose and Lundy was oozing confidence by the finish.

While I scored the contest 97-93 to Hank Lundy, the official scorecards read: 98-92 (twice) and a slightly unfair 100-90.

While Hank's future in boxing looks slightly brighter, its hard to see Ajose bouncing back at this high level again at the age of 33. Don't expect Ajose to retire, as he has no doubt still got enough to compete at European level, but unfortunately the world stage found him too late - and that is just as unfortunate for us fans as it is for Ajose.