AJOSE Olusegun has successfully defended his Commonwealth Light-Welterweight Championship with a points victory over Nigel Wright.

Olusegun, who also claims the vacant British title, secured a unanimous judges decision victory - by 117-112, 117-111, 116-113 - at the Liverpool Olympia.

Wright, a short-notice replacement for the bout, made a good start but Olusegun showed his class by dominating the middle and latter stages of the fight.

It was a hard-fought opener with Wright, a former English Champion, trying to pop out his right jab, while Olusegun, who was making the third defence of his Commonwealth title, showing his fast hands as he tried to unload with a barrage of combinations.

A straight left from Wright found its target in the second and that seemed to spur London-based Olusegun into action as he went for his opponent with some frantic work towards the end of the round.

Olusegun's best work of the contest so far came in the third as he began to have success when jumping in with left hooks and was the busier of the two men. In their original contest Wright had started on top but a late surge saw Olusegun win the belt. But it was proving a good fight with both fighters working hard to gain an advantage.

Olusegun looked happy with his performance in the first section of the fight and started posing and posturing in the fourth. However, he still did enough to take the round as Wright was beginning to find it hard to reach his target.

Wright took the fight at short notice as Barry Morrison had to withdraw due to illness but Wright would need a fine performance in the later rounds if he was to claim the victory.

In the sixth a left to the head was quickly followed by a right hook as Wright was struggling. However, the north end man landed two of his own later in the round to give his fans something to cheer about.

He could not instantly capitalise on that as the seventh was arguably the most scrappy of the fight with both men throwing and missing on a few occasions.

Olusegun seemed well ahead on the scorecards but his corner weren't happy with his efforts after the eighth saying they hadn't seen the best of him and that 'Wright was not in the same league'.

Wright showed he could still have a say in this bout when he landed with a right to the head in the last few seconds of the ninth which rocked Olusegun's head back.

However, Olusegun regained control in the tenth with a series of powerful right hooks and Wright would need to find something special and dramatic to win this. 'That was fantastic' said Olusegun's corner, a vast contrast to two rounds earlier.

Olusegun took his foot off the accelerator in the 11th as it seemed he thought he had already done enough to be victorious.

Wright went for it in the opening stages of the last and for a brief period looked to have the defending champion in trouble. But Olusegun finished the round strongly as the decision went to the judges scorecards.

Wright was by far the more popular of the two fighters with a large number of supporters travelling down from the north east to Liverpool.

Build-up
NIGEL Wright insisted he will gain revenge over Ajose Olusegun tonight by claiming the Commonwealth Light-Welterweight title and also the vacant British belt.

Wright took London-based Nigerian Olusegun to the wire in February last year when the Commonwealth belt was up for grabs before losing a narrow points decision.

But the pair meet again tonight at the Liverpool Olympia in the main event of Matchroom Sport's next boxing event, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports 1 from 9.30pm.

“I let him off the hook last time," insisted Wright. "I won the first five or six rounds and let him come back into it and it definitely won’t be happening this time.

“Maybe it was a boredom thing last time that I was winning the fight that easily. It was a close fight for the first one, probably the hardest fight he has ever had.

“A lot of boxing officials ringside thought I had got the decision and my manager thinks I might have nicked it. Maybe if he had clattered me with a big punch and shaken me up a bit, I would've gone on to win.”

Both fighters have had four bouts since their last meeting with Wright on the wrong side of two debatable decisions during his tussles.

The Hartlepool fighter was involved in Matchroom Sport's Prizefighter Welterweights tournament in October but was controversially eliminated in the semi-finals to eventual winner Michael Lomax.

Olusegun is undefeated from 26 fights but Wright, who is coming in as a short-notice replacement after Barry Morrison withdrew due to illness, believes he can defeat him.

“Olusegun is good and I’m not going to bad-mouth anyone or disrespect him," said Wright. "He is 26 and 0 and a worthy champion.

“But I know I've got the tools to beat him. He has dodged me for a while. We offered them a re-match and they didn’t want it and I vacated my English title to get a crack at him. Politics came in and I didn’t get the fight which was frustrating.

“Now he’s been ordered to fight us and I’m sure it’s not the fight he would have picked because he knows I’m a threat.

“He’s been in with one or two since our first fight but no-one of the same ability as me.

“Since we fought, I’ve been in with the better class and fought more experienced fighters so if anyone has moved on it’s me.”

“I know I’m moving in the right direction and I’ve got a lot of rounds under my belt now. I just feel I’ve come on leaps and bounds."

The undercard features a host of talented local prospects including Steve Williams (light-welterweight), Nathan Brough (light-welterweight), John Donnelly (bantamweight) and Michael Stanton (super-middleweight).

Former commonwealth featherweight title holder Paul Truscott makes his first return to the ring after he lost his belt when he suffered a bad cut against John Simpson in January.

The undercard also includes undefeated Troy James, Carl Frampton and Martin Ward, while Poland's exciting light-middleweight Gregorsz Proksa will be looking for his 18th consecutive victory and fights Scotland's former British contender Jamie Coyle.

Liverpool Olympia
Friday, June 12
12 x 3 mins Vacant British and Commonwealth Light-Welterweweight Championships @ 10st 0llbs
NIGEL WRIGHT (Spennymoor) v AJOSE OLUSEGUN (London)

8 x 3 mins Light-Welterweight Contest @ 10st 2lbs
STEVE WILLIAMS (Liverpool) bt SLAWOMIR ZIEMLEWICZ (Poland) PTS 80-74

6 x 3 mins Light-Welterweight Contest  @ 10st 2lbs
NATHAN BROUGH (Liverpool) bt MICHAEL FRONTIN (London / Mauritius) 60-54

6 x 3 mins Featherweight Contest  @ 9st 2lbs
PAUL TRUSCOTT (Middlesbrough) bt ANDREI KOSTIN (Russia) 60-54

6 x 3 mins Bantamweight Contest  @ 8st 8lbs
JOHN DONNELLY (Manchester) bt ANWAR ALFADLI (Bradford) 59-56

4 x 3 mins Featherweight Contest @ 9st 2lbs
CARL FRAMPTON (Belfast) bt SANDOR SZINAVEL (Hungary) - Ref stopped fight R2

4 x 3 mins Featherweight Contest @ 9st 2lbs
TROY JAMES (Coventry) drew with CHRIS RILEY (Middlesbrough) 38-38

4 x 3 mins Super-Middleweight Contest  @ 12st 1lbs
MICHAEL STANTON (Liverpool) v KURT BROMBERG (Leeds)

4 x 3 mins Super-Bantamweight  Contest  @ 8st 13lbs
MARTIN WARD (Manchester) v IGNAC KASSAI (Hungary)

8 x 3 mins Light-Middleweight Contest @ 11st 2lbs
GREGORSZ PROKSA (Poland) bt JAMIE COYLE (Bannockburn) Ref stopped fight R3

Date posted: June 12, 2009

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