UK boxers are scared of me- Ajose Nigeriasports.com:--Segun, no news from you for quite a long time now, what’s been happening? Ajose: Actually since after my winning the African title in Calabar, I came over to London for a fight but unfortunately my opponent pulled out in the last minute but recently I had a fight with the British number six in welterweight and I knocked him out in the fourth round, it was an amazing experience for me. Nigeriasports.com:--- very interesting Segun you have been undefeated since you joined professional boxing after the Sydney Olympic Games, right now, what are your immediate plans? Ajose: My plan is to get my hand on any available title, any of the world title is my target now, hopefully I will be fighting for the WBA international belt any time I get the opportunity am just out there with the best and am ready to fight any one of them with either the WBU, WBA, WBO and WBC anyone of them am ready for it. Nigeriasports.com: Very interesting, out there in London sometime ago you were complaining that you were finding it difficult in getting opponent to fight you because they are scared of Segun Ajose the Nigerian soldier, has the situation changed after your last fight, are you hoping to get more fight out there in Britain?
Ajose: It is still the same thing its been difficult getting an opponent to fight me, nobody wants to fight me and I can understand, he might have beat you up and why do you want to fight an opponent that will beat you up, so that has always been my problem, in US everybody wants to fight the champion, if you are good everybody wants to fight you and I want to really fight regularly so I can prove myself and hopefully in a couple of months I will be having another fight. Nigeriasports.com: Interesting, and of course what are your plans for the African title since you won it in Calabar. You’ve had no defence of it, what are you hoping for? Ajose: Winning the African title was really good and as a Nigerian I am really happy to hold the African title and now that am a continental champion, I will get my rating in the WBC, the guy I defeated for the African title is number 17 on the WBC definitely now I will get my rating now in the WBC. Around November or December I will be defending my title in Nigeria, so we just need to get the promoters to do it and I will be coming to Nigeria to give them top class boxing. Nigeriasports.com; -----alright the politics in boxing out there in Europe, America and even in Asia is that of black fighters winning fight after fight without getting rated by the top sanctioning bodies, what are you hoping for in getting rated apart from the WBC, what about the IBF,WBO and of course the WBA? Ajose: The point is to get rated in one of the sanctioning bodies, if you get rated in WBC definitely you will be a force to reckon with in other sanctioning bodies, the main thing is to get rated in WBC or WBO, hopefully I will be in the top 15 in the next few months. Nigeriasports.com: Segun, Nigerian’s Fatai Onikeke has just won the commonwealth title beating his Tanzanian opponent what’s your take on that?
Ajose: I think Fatai Onikeke is a very rugged boxer, he’s a boxer that has done his bits in the game, I’m glad to hear that good news and I must congratulate him for bringing the title to Nigeria after a long time. I think he needs more encouragement and exposure as he is now exposed to the boxing world; he is no longer a local champion but now a commonwealth titlist and he will get challenges fr4om everywhere so let his promoters and others support him Nigeriasports.com: You are out there in London and you know very well Peter Oboh the British and commonwealth light heavyweight champion, what’s been happening with the Nigerian? Ajose: Peter Oboh has been doing very well over the years and he is well respected and nobody wants to fight him because is very strong so nobody wants to fight him but his promoter has been doing a very good job getting opponents from other parts of Europe to fight him which is very good but then he is a good guy and one guy that really believe in God apart from being very strong in boxing he also believes in God which is really good and I really like him. Nigeriasports.com: Segun what about the other Nigerian boxers in England? Ajose: Some of the amateurs are really doing well, Nigeria really miss a lot by not inviting them for the All Africa games and the Olympics trials because they are very good. They've been training with me, if they had gone for the Olympics for Nigeria they would have won medals, I am double sure of that because they have been training very well, Kola Ogunbiyi is doing very well and just right now he just took a break to focus on other things in his life and is doing well most of them have been doing well and that is a very good thing for Nigeria. Nigeriasports.com: Okay you talked about the Olympics, seven Nigerian boxers trained in Cuba for five months and then from Cuba they went to Germany and then Athens five of them lost out in the first round while the other two did not get to medal zone, what’s your take on the performance of Nigerian boxers in Athens? Ajose: I must say it was a disgrace watching Nigerian boxers being beaten that way, losing woefully is different from losing gallantly, most of them lost woefully which is very bad and at the same time I will not blame the boxers because these guys are boys. ‘You don’t take boys to the competition of men’ the Olympic is a competition for men. These guys are not well exposed they only took them to Cuba for training tour. You don't just go to Cuba for training tour you go to competitions all over the world, Europe, America everywhere, expose these guys at least before the Olympics they ought to have been to about ten international competitions within two years so there was no way the boys could have gone to perform magic in a competition of men.
It doesn't happen like that you have to push. The Cubans are the best in the world still they go to about twenty competitions in one year that’s really a lot and that is why they are getting the result; it’s as simple as that. Nigeria has well known boxers in the world bring one or two to camp of these boxers so that they can fine-tune their beliefs. Psyche their morale. These boys went to the Olympics without even knowing the meaning of Olympics. Nigeriasports.com: Your mate at the 2000 Olympic game Samuel Peters is one of the most feared boxers in the whole of the world and everybody is saying Peter will surely be the next heavyweight champion of the world what would you say? Ajose: Let me tell you I have known PETER a long time even before the Olympics we have been to together living together, I know peter quite well he is a very strong kid and the good thing for him now is that he is very well managed and because he’s being well managed he could go all the way, all he need is to continue learning and listening and he will be the best in the world and this is what we want, we want Nigeria to be the best in whatever they do, am really proud of him I really want him to go all the way and at the same time I hope I’ll really go all the way too. Nigeriasports.com: You want to send a message to your fans back home. Ajose: My message to Nigerian fans is that wherever a Nigerian is fighting they should go out to support him; we really want to put the name of Nigeria on the world map for the right reasons as far as this game is concern, they should just come out en-masse to support us and corporate bodies should support us too because boxing is the original thing and to my fans, I say thank you very much Nigeriasports.com: Segun thank you so much for your time? Ajose: Thank you very much Ralph, keep the flag flying. 0
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