Nigerian Cruiserweight pair Ola Afolabi and Lateef Kayode maintained their top ten world rankings over the weekend with expected victories over their selected opposition. Former WBO Interim Cruiserweight champ Afolabi, fighting on the undercard of the Klitschko-Adamek WBC Heavyweight title fight in Poland, tried early for his ninth KO, but when it was not forthcoming, settled for an eight round points win over very tough local boy Lukasz Rusiewicz. English-born Afolabi improved to 18-2-3 while the brave Pole was able to spend the anniversary of the Twin Tower Bombings the next day with an appropriate 9-11 record.
Hard-punching, US-based top ten contender Lateef Kayode also cruised to a unanimous ten round decision over faded former contender Felix Cora, Jr of the US to remain unbeaten in eighteen fights. After opening a cut over his opponent's eye in the second and connecting with a hard right in the third, Kayode reportedly failed to follow up but instead, tried awkwardly to box the rest of the way. With a WBA title match against master-boxer Guillermo Jones looming on the horizon, going the distance could very well help the youngster's confidence. Cora, meanwhile, drops to 22-5-2.
In Middleweight world title action, another US-based Nigerain, Eromosele Albert, took on local hero Daniel Geale in a mandatory challenge, last Wednesday, for the IBF belt in Hobart, Australia. Geale, making his first title defense, reportedly rebuffed the spirited challenger with a sparkling display of boxing to score a twelve round unanimous decision. The champion scored his twenty-sixth win against only one defeat while Albert goes home with his fifth loss in thirty bouts.
Also in action, newly transplanted Wale Omotoso, all the way from the mean streets of Lagos, via Australia, had his first taste of Stateside action. The undefeated Welterweight, ranked twelfth by the IBF, scored his seventeenth knockout in nineteen outings with a fifth round drubbing of normally durable American opponent Calvin Odom who drops to 19-11.
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