Frank Sanchez Vs Efe Ajagba 24th July

[joshj909]

Welfare check for boxtune

[The Gratest]

Boxtune's mum will be pleased she can now watch the reruns of Strictly Come Dancing on the iPlayer without any bandwith getting eaten up by her son pretending to be a nigerian.

[cormack]

I wonder wonder what Ajagba’s fans are thinking right now?

they probably dont know the difference between ajagbe sanchez or any other black HW that isnt british

especially you know who

[oogiebe]

I wonder wonder what Ajagba’s fans are thinking right now?

they probably dont know the difference between ajagbe sanchez or any other black HW that isnt british

especially you know who

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

[KiwiRider]

I wonder wonder what Ajagba’s fans are thinking right now?

they probably dont know the difference between ajagbe sanchez or any other black HW that isnt british

especially you know who

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

Good for you. Hope he gets out and in the ring soon. Im sick of people writing guys off because of one loss.
Heck, most of the guys I'm a fan of have more than one loss and I don't care.

[oogiebe]

they probably dont know the difference between ajagbe sanchez or any other black HW that isnt british

especially you know who

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

Good for you. Hope he gets out and in the ring soon. Im sick of people writing guys off because of one loss.
Heck, most of the guys I'm a fan of have more than one loss and I don't care.

Yah! Still love Sokol too! Makmudov is a fav of mine because of his style and menacing head tick! Boxing is fun. Too many folks on here are way too serious with their 'analysis' and who's better than who...you know. The usual suspects.

BTW: That was my first close look at Sanchez. A nightmare opponent if I've ever seen one.

[bbb636]

I'd love to see Sanchez against Makhmudov.
I didn't know Sanchez,big mak would have his hand full with a mobile and fast opponent like him.
I think....

[margaret thatcher]

after that i want to see less of sanchez

[KiwiRider]

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

Good for you. Hope he gets out and in the ring soon. Im sick of people writing guys off because of one loss.
Heck, most of the guys I'm a fan of have more than one loss and I don't care.

Yah! Still love Sokol too! Makmudov is a fav of mine because of his style and menacing head tick! Boxing is fun. Too many folks on here are way too serious with their 'analysis' and who's better than who...you know. The usual suspects.

BTW: That was my first close look at Sanchez. A nightmare opponent if I've ever seen one.

Big Fank is s handful all right. Someone needs to tell him to quit the Cuban crap and fight. You don't get fans when the crowd is booing you all fight.. I believe he could have 100% KOs but typically Cuban he only does just enough.
I think he could beat most of the top 15 heavies but I couldn't be arsed sitting through it

[oogiebe]

Good for you. Hope he gets out and in the ring soon. Im sick of people writing guys off because of one loss.
Heck, most of the guys I'm a fan of have more than one loss and I don't care.

Yah! Still love Sokol too! Makmudov is a fav of mine because of his style and menacing head tick! Boxing is fun. Too many folks on here are way too serious with their 'analysis' and who's better than who...you know. The usual suspects.

BTW: That was my first close look at Sanchez. A nightmare opponent if I've ever seen one.

Big Fank is s handful all right. Someone needs to tell him to quit the Cuban crap and fight. You don't get fans when the crowd is booing you all fight.. I believe he could have 100% KOs but typically Cuban he only does just enough.
I think he could beat most of the top 15 heavies but I couldn't be arsed sitting through it

Yeah, I'm not a fan of his. Terrific talent though.

[Enlightened-One]

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

I’ve never been a big fan of Ajagba’s. I predicted he'd lose the Sanchez bout.

I was once ridiculed for pointing out the Nigerian's stylistic weaknesses, lack of experience and also his obvious need for time to learn his trade.

People had also granted Ajagba an honorary rite of passage to being considered as a top-ten world-rated heavyweight without even requiring the need for validation…

And now it seems that common sense has prevailed, and people have finally come around to my way of thinking.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like Ajagba and he has plenty of time on his side to improve, learn his ring craft and become a decent fighter, but I just don’t think he’s capable of becoming a world-beater.

The most we can hope for is for Ajagba to become a Bryant Jennings/Dereck Chisora/Rober Helenius type of opponent for future rising stars.

I guess that's a long-winded way of saying I generally agree with you.

[The Gratest]

I predicted he'd lose as well so it's actually MY way of thinking.
Me me me me me meeeee!

[candyslim]

I wonder wonder what Ajagba’s fans are thinking right now?

they probably dont know the difference between ajagbe sanchez or any other black HW that isnt british

especially you know who

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

Well said Oogie. I didn't think Ajagba would beat Sanchez-Faure and he didn't, but I applaud him for having the guts to take on a dangerous unbeaten fellow prospect. I certainly don't think any less of him, in fact I would expect a modest improvement in his ranking position on the back of that.

The flaws he showed against FSF have been there for all to see, so nobody (but boxtune) should be surprised. Hopefully Efe will now have a better understanding of where he needs to make improvements because personal experience trumps any other kind. Whether he is capable of making the necessary improvements remains to be seen.

[Enlightened-One]

they probably dont know the difference between ajagbe sanchez or any other black HW that isnt british

especially you know who

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

I certainly don't think any less of him, in fact I would expect a modest improvement in his ranking position on the back of that.

The flaws he showed against FSF have been there for all to see, so nobody (but boxtune) should be surprised. Hopefully Efe will now have a better understanding of where he needs to make improvements because personal experience trumps any other kind. Whether he is capable of making the necessary improvements remains to be seen.

Efe Ajagba will be 28 years of age by the time of his next bout. And he’ll also be on the cusp of celebrating his five-year anniversary competing as a pro. He isn’t a novice anymore.

With the exception of the Sanchez bout, Ajagba has been constantly be matched against weak opposition and he hasn’t recently shown any visible signs of implementing stylistic improvements.

The trajectory of the calibre of his opposition has remained static (perfectly horizontal) since 2019. He hasn’t faced progressively more challenging opposition during each outing. His career has stalled.

There’s also a question mark over Ajagba’s power (his perceived main strength), since he initially looked sensational when he was blasting out much smaller journeymen weighing around the 225lbs mark.

But for his most recent five outings prior to the Sanchez loss, he seemed a lot less heavy-handed when he was facing 244lbs journeymen. He doesn’t appear to be a bigger puncher than many of his fellow prospects.

I think there’s an obvious reason why Ajagba’ s handlers have mollycoddled him – they don’t have any faith in him.

Top Rank needed a strong undercard to help sell Wilder-Fury III, so they cashed out on Ajagba's zero when they matched him against Sanchez (too good - too soon).

I think that Ajagba’s career isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination, but he has a lot of flaws that will be difficult for him to overcome, given his age and the general lack of improvement we’ve witnessed over the years.

During August of last year, Efe Ajagba performed a complete overhaul of his team, because things weren't working. He wasn't improving. His career was going nowhere.

For some reason he was unhappy with his handlers and wanted a completely fresh start (i.e. new trainer, new manager, new promoter, new network etc.):

• Ronnie Shields -> Kay Koroma
• Shelly Finkel -> James Prince
• Showtime/Fox (PBC) -> ESPN
• Richard Schaefer -> Bob Arum
• Ringstar Sports -> Top Rank

But it hasn’t worked. And despite all these changes, Ajagba still hasn’t improved. And I’m not sure what it’s going to take for him to become a better fighter.

Perhaps Ajagba has already peaked and is currently as good as he’s ever going to be?

[Enlightened-One]

In terms of Frank Sanchez – the jury is still out!

I’m not going to jump aboard the Cuban’s hype train at this point in time, because it seems a tad premature.

Excluding Ajagba, all 18 of his opponents have failed to win a combined total of 164 bouts! His resume is embarrassingly appalling!

And even though the Cuban deserves a certain amount of kudos for beating another unbeaten prospect, we can’t forget the fact that Ajagba was unproven and definitely wasn’t considered a world-class heavyweight.

That said, Frank Sanchez’s amateur pedigree, coupled with the Ajagba win, suggests he’s a prospect worth keeping an eye on.

[Syntax Error]

Boxtune's mum will be pleased she can now watch the reruns of Strictly Come Dancing on the iPlayer without any bandwith getting eaten up by her son pretending to be a nigerian.

There'll certainly be more tissue in the house than there used to be.

[bbb636]

In terms of Frank Sanchez – the jury is still out!

I’m not going to jump aboard the Cuban’s hype train at this point in time, because it seems a tad premature.

Excluding Ajagba, all 18 of his opponents have failed to win a combined total of 164 bouts! His resume is embarrassingly appalling!

And even though the Cuban deserves a certain amount of kudos for beating another unbeaten prospect, we can’t forget the fact that Ajagba was unproven and definitely wasn’t considered a world-class heavyweight.

That said, Frank Sanchez’s amateur pedigree, coupled with the Ajagba win, suggests he’s a prospect worth keeping an eye on.

Would Makhmudov be able to handle Sanchez?

[Enlightened-One]

In terms of Frank Sanchez – the jury is still out!

I’m not going to jump aboard the Cuban’s hype train at this point in time, because it seems a tad premature.

Excluding Ajagba, all 18 of his opponents have failed to win a combined total of 164 bouts! His resume is embarrassingly appalling!

And even though the Cuban deserves a certain amount of kudos for beating another unbeaten prospect, we can’t forget the fact that Ajagba was unproven and definitely wasn’t considered a world-class heavyweight.

That said, Frank Sanchez’s amateur pedigree, coupled with the Ajagba win, suggests he’s a prospect worth keeping an eye on.

Would Makhmudov be able to handle Sanchez?

Here’s the deal, modern-day heavyweight prospects are generally protected.

Most of them seem to spend the first four or five years of their professional careers competing in meaningless matchups.

So it’s often very difficult to identify whether a particular fighter should be considered as being the “real-deal” or not.

I’ve always regarded Arslanbek Makhmudov as being a decent prospect that’s fought no one. I also previously rated him above Frank Sanchez, but I don’t feel that way anymore.

Makhmudov is a very experienced fighter, is 32½ years of age, has had 100 amateur bouts and 16 fights in the WSB.

But what has he achieved during his four-year spell in the pros?

He's currently competing against the sort of opposition raw novices are typically matched against!

Makhmudov has had ten first round KO’s during the course of his entire 13 fight professional career, having gone further than three rounds only once.

How much can you really learn from so many mismatches? And why has his career seemingly stalled?

For the record, a lot of the same criticism can be targeted at Efe Ajagba and Frank Sanchez too.

Anyway, back to your question, I currently favour Frank Sanchez to beat the Russian prospect. The Cuban has achieved more in the amateur ranks and the Ajagba victory is far more impressive than anything Makhmudov has achieved within the last four years.

To be fair, I could be wrong (since I've not ruled-out the possibility that he might actually be better than Sanchez), because I’ve recently lost interest and stopped following Arslanbek Makhmudov. It’s just that I haven’t got the appetite to follow fighters building Mark De Mori type resumes.

The Erkan Teper fight is a case in point.

The German fighter had only scored two victories within the 3½ years prior to the Makhmudov bout, with both wins coming against opposition with a combined total record of only four victories during the course of 34 fights (28 KO losses).

[bbb636]

In terms of Frank Sanchez – the jury is still out!

I’m not going to jump aboard the Cuban’s hype train at this point in time, because it seems a tad premature.

Excluding Ajagba, all 18 of his opponents have failed to win a combined total of 164 bouts! His resume is embarrassingly appalling!

And even though the Cuban deserves a certain amount of kudos for beating another unbeaten prospect, we can’t forget the fact that Ajagba was unproven and definitely wasn’t considered a world-class heavyweight.

That said, Frank Sanchez’s amateur pedigree, coupled with the Ajagba win, suggests he’s a prospect worth keeping an eye on.

Would Makhmudov be able to handle Sanchez?

Here’s the deal, modern-day heavyweight prospects are generally protected.

Most of them seem to spend the first four or five years of their professional careers competing in meaningless matchups.

So it’s often very difficult to identify whether a particular fighter should be considered as being the “real-deal” or not.

I’ve always regarded Arslanbek Makhmudov as being a decent prospect that’s fought no one. I also previously rated him above Frank Sanchez, but I don’t feel that way anymore.

Makhmudov is a very experienced fighter, is 32½ years of age, has had 100 amateur bouts and 16 fights in the WSB.

But what has he achieved during his four-year spell in the pros?

He's currently competing against the sort of opposition raw novices are typically matched against!

Makhmudov has had ten first round KO’s during the course of his entire 13 fight professional career, having gone further than three rounds only once.

How much can you really learn from so many mismatches? And why has his career seemingly stalled?

For the record, a lot of the same criticism can be targeted at Efe Ajagba and Frank Sanchez too.

Anyway, back to your question, I currently favour Frank Sanchez to beat the Russian prospect. The Cuban has achieved more in the amateur ranks and the Ajagba victory is far more impressive than anything Makhmudov has achieved within the last four years.

To be fair, I could be wrong (since I've not ruled-out the possibility that he might actually be better than Sanchez), because I’ve recently lost interest and stopped following Arslanbek Makhmudov. It’s just that I haven’t got the appetite to follow fighters building Mark De Mori type resumes.

The Erkan Teper fight is a case in point.

The German fighter had only scored two victories within the 3½ years prior to the Makhmudov bout, with both wins coming against opposition with a combined total record of only four victories during the course of 34 fights (28 KO losses).

I agree with you 99%.My Only disagreement would be that i think he could beat Sanchez but that would be a high risk fight.
But you're very right about his level of opposition.
Thanks for your détail answer!

[candyslim]

I'm still a fan. Excitement over him becoming a contender waned over the last couple of years, but he'll supply some fun watches in the future. There are a lot of fighters who aren't great that I'm a fan of.

I certainly don't think any less of him, in fact I would expect a modest improvement in his ranking position on the back of that.

The flaws he showed against FSF have been there for all to see, so nobody (but boxtune) should be surprised. Hopefully Efe will now have a better understanding of where he needs to make improvements because personal experience trumps any other kind. Whether he is capable of making the necessary improvements remains to be seen.

Efe Ajagba will be 28 years of age by the time of his next bout. And he’ll also be on the cusp of celebrating his five-year anniversary competing as a pro. He isn’t a novice anymore.

With the exception of the Sanchez bout, Ajagba has been constantly be matched against weak opposition and he hasn’t recently shown any visible signs of implementing stylistic improvements.

The trajectory of the calibre of his opposition has remained static (perfectly horizontal) since 2019. He hasn’t faced progressively more challenging opposition during each outing. His career has stalled.

There’s also a question mark over Ajagba’s power (his perceived main strength), since he initially looked sensational when he was blasting out much smaller journeymen weighing around the 225lbs mark.

But for his most recent five outings prior to the Sanchez loss, he seemed a lot less heavy-handed when he was facing 244lbs journeymen. He doesn’t appear to be a bigger puncher than many of his fellow prospects.

I think there’s an obvious reason why Ajagba’ s handlers have mollycoddled him – they don’t have any faith in him.

Top Rank needed a strong undercard to help sell Wilder-Fury III, so they cashed out on Ajagba's zero when they matched him against Sanchez (too good - too soon).

I think that Ajagba’s career isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination, but he has a lot of flaws that will be difficult for him to overcome, given his age and the general lack of improvement we’ve witnessed over the years.

During August of last year, Efe Ajagba performed a complete overhaul of his team, because things weren't working. He wasn't improving. His career was going nowhere.

For some reason he was unhappy with his handlers and wanted a completely fresh start (i.e. new trainer, new manager, new promoter, new network etc.):

• Ronnie Shields -> Kay Koroma
• Shelly Finkel -> James Prince
• Showtime/Fox (PBC) -> ESPN
• Richard Schaefer -> Bob Arum
• Ringstar Sports -> Top Rank

But it hasn’t worked. And despite all these changes, Ajagba still hasn’t improved. And I’m not sure what it’s going to take for him to become a better fighter.

Perhaps Ajagba has already peaked and is currently as good as he’s ever going to be?

Not much there I can dispute except to point out the obvious that the horizontal trajectory has just suddenly moved toward the perpendicular. I suspected since the fight was mooted that the jump was going to be too great. The calibre of opposition should increase in gradual increments but he has as you say been mollycoddled.

The only other comment I'd make is that if mollycoddling indicates an absence of faith in one's fighter, then it would appear faith is in very short supply among handlers of promising heavyweights.

Sanchez- Faure is not guaranteed to set pulses racing but he does appear to be an accomplished and capable technician. I imagine he might find it difficult to get fights with top ten or fifteen contenders. I believe Bakole-Ilunga has agreed to fight Hrgovic for the IBF's mandatory nomination. If for some reason he were to pull out I would not be surprised to see the Cuban flash volunteer his services, as I'd expect that Ajagba win to propel FSF into their top 15 (at least on merit, politics aside) thereby satisfying their requirements for consideration..

[candyslim]

I would expect Sanchez-Faure to have too much for Makhmudov. He can't compete in terms of punching power but he is difficult to catch clean and is probably too quick and too slick. I see it going the same way as FSF v Ajagba.

[bbb636]

I would expect Sanchez-Faure to have too much for Makhmudov. He can't compete in terms of punching power but he is difficult to catch clean and is probably too quick and too slick. I see it going the same way as FSF v Ajagba.

I'd like to see this fight.If Mak get him in a corner that's it.

[oogiebe]

I would expect Sanchez-Faure to have too much for Makhmudov. He can't compete in terms of punching power but he is difficult to catch clean and is probably too quick and too slick. I see it going the same way as FSF v Ajagba.

I'd like to see this fight.If Mak get him in a corner that's it.

Was thinking the same. Mak is a human eclipse.

[Enlightened-One]

The only other comment I'd make is that if mollycoddling indicates an absence of faith in one's fighter, then it would appear faith is in very short supply among handlers of promising heavyweights.

Yes, that's precisely what I'm saying.

There are lots of heavyweights that turned pro roughly four years ago (or more) that keep engaging in horrendous mismatches:

• Filip Hrgović
• Evgenyi Romanov
• Arslanbek Makhmudov
• Ivan Dychko
• Bakhodir Jalolov
• Vladyslav Sirenko
• Demsey McKean
• Zhan Kossobutskiy

And then you could also argue these three guys have only fought one decent(ish) opponent:

• Jared Anderson
• Frank Sanchez
• Efe Ajagba

I'm sure other people can name even more heavyweight prospects that are in the same position that I haven't listed.

This trend of protecting prospects for four or five years and progressing them very slowly happens far too often and for too long to be the purely the fighters fault.

[SportsRatings]

And despite all these changes, Ajagba still hasn’t improved. And I’m not sure what it’s going to take for him to become a better fighter.

He looks like his heart isn't into it. Especially telling in that last round.

Maybe he really dislikes boxing but he was good at it and had the size so he thought, if this is going to be easy, sure I'll do it. But now it's not easy so it's not fun any more.