Referee Roger Barnor (right) lifts the hand of Oluwaseun as Peter Zwennes and Azumah Nelson(left) join in the celebration

Oluwaseun wins WBA Pan African title - beats Ayala in one-sided affair

Kwame Larweh Sports News Mar - 26 - 2018 , 10:30

Ghana-based Nigerian boxer Wahab Joseph Oluwaseun put up am impressive performance as he secured a unanimous victory over Ghanaian Bright Ayala in their WBA Pan African super featherweight title bout staged at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra last Saturday.

In a battle of undefeated boxers, Oluwaseun, 27, improved his record to a perfect 16 wins in as many fights, while Ayala suffered his first defeat in 15 professional fights.

The main fight of the Azumah Nelson Fight Night, Wahab dominated his opponent throughout the bout and won on the cards of all the three judges namely, Confidence Hiagbe (120-109), Erasmus Owoo (119-110) and Shadrack Acquaye (120-109).

The Nigerian dictated the pace of the fight in the first three rounds and despite fierce exchanges between the two boxers in the fourth and fifth rounds, Oluwaseun used effective jabs in the seventh round to keep his opponent at arm’s length. In the eighth round, Ayala caught his opponent with a powerful left hook, but Oluwaseun survived it and came back strongly in the subsequent rounds with combinations which dazed the Ghanaian who held onto the ropes in the final round to avoid kissing the canvas.

Ghana Boxing Authority president Peter Zwennes was assisted by his predecessor Samir Captan and legend Azumah Nelson to decorate Wahab with the WBA Pan African title.

There was controversy on the night as Michael Ansah received a raw deal when his Interim National super featherweight championship fight against Felix Ajorm was scored a draw to the amazement of the crowd who felt ansah dominated the exchanges.

Ansah, 28, prior to the fight has caused a stir when he failed to make the weight at the pre-fight weigh-in for which he got punished by forfeiting twenty five per cent of his GH¢2000 purse.

However, last Saturday night, the Bukom-based boxer dominated Ajom from start to finish, but the judges saw it differently and awarded Ansah a majority draw. Judge shadrack Acquaye scored it 117-112 in favour of Ansah, but Clement Ashong and Erasmus Owoo had it 117-117 and 117-117 respectively.

In other bouts, Emmanuel Martey beat Emmanuel Anim by a majority decision (119-112,115-115 and 115) to become the new National Super Middleweight champion.