Wahab beats Ayala to become new WBA Pan-African champ

Wahab ‘Seunzy’ Oluwaseun put up a spectacular performance to completely dominate and outpoint Bright Ayala Saturday night in Accra, the judges had no choice than to award him a unanimous decision, 119-111, 120-109, 119-111 to crown him the new WBA Pan-African super featherweight champion.

The Nigerian who began his pro career in Ghana, is trained by a Ghanaian and has had all 16 career fights thus far in Accra, was in complete control throughout the 12 rounds as he rendered Ayala’s power and game plan redundant.

Wahab was very crafty, making sure Ayala who kept chasing him around the ring, never got close to landing any power punches whilst often finding the space to land lots of telling blows as well as winning any exchange of punches whenever he stood up to the chasing Ayala. It was not until the very last seconds of the final round that the two boxers really went toe-to-toe but once again Ayala was found wanting after Wahab’s powerful uppercut at the very end saw the Ghanaian dazed and wandering about in the ring in the very moment the bell sounded to end proceedings.

Wahab had however done enough to win almost every round on one and all but one round on the other two scorecards.

“Hardwork and dedication pays. First of all I give thanks to God, my pastor Theophilus Tetteh, the legend Azumah Nelson who inspires me, my coach Charles Quartey and the entire team, we did it and I’m so excited,” Wahab said at ringside post fight.

“I want a world title shot, all the boxers in Africa they are not of my calibre, I train for the world class, I train for Davidson, I train for Lomachenko, those are the guys I train for. Whether it’s raining or shining, I’m always training,” the 26 year old Nigerian added.

In other fights on the night which lived up to the billing as all five bouts were decided via the scorecards, Emmanuel ‘Mayweather’ Martey claimed a majority decision, 119-112, 115-115, 115-113 over Emmanuel ‘Horse Power’ Anim to hand his old rival his first career defeat and also claim the Ghana super middleweight title as well as set up a bid for the Commonwealth title next.

Budding Wasiru Mohammed proved too strong for Ezekiel Annan in their super bantamweight contest over 8 rounds, earning 80-74 on all three scorecards to extend his perfect career start to 7-0, 6 KOs.

Another thrilling fight was the Ghana lightweight championship which saw Nathaniel Kpakpo Allotey successfully defend the belt, 79-74, 79-72, 79-73 against Abraham ‘Ebo Electric’ Afful.

The interim Ghana super featherweight championship finished in a draw, albeit controversially as many at ringside were in unison Michael ‘One Bullet’ Ansah had done enough to defeat Felix Ajom. Instead the judges scored it 112-117, 117-111, 117-117.

Presented by Hemann Promotions in association with Azumah Nelson Boxing, the Azumah Nelson Fight Night 5 initially belled off on December 9 last year but was rained off after only two fights. It took over three months, but the organisers ensured the remaining scheduled fights finally took place.