Ola Afolabi

Ola Afolabi
Data
Birth Name	Olawale O. Afolabi
Weight class	Cruiser weight
nationality	Great Britain
birthday	March 15, 1980
place of birth	London
style	Left delivery
size	1.91 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	31
Victories	22nd
Knockout victories	11
Defeats	5
draw	4th

Ola Afolabi (born March 15, 1980 in London ) is a British boxer of Nigerian descent and former IBO world cruiserweight champion.

Afolabi turned pro in 2002 and fought mainly in the USA , since 2003 in the cruiserweight division . He suffered his first loss in March 2003 on points against Allan Green . On August 19, 2005 he managed a points victory against the amateur world champion from 1999, Michael Simms . In November of the same year he also managed a tKo victory in round 7 against Orlin Norris .

In April 2008 he defeated the previously unbeaten Eric Fields (11-0) by tKo in round 10. On March 14, 2009 he was able to defeat Enzo Maccarinelli (29-2) by knockout in the ninth round. Then he got the chance to play against the reigning world champion of the WBO Marco Huck , but lost this encounter on points.

On March 3, 2012 he won the fight for the interim world championship of the WBO through tKo in the fifth round against the Russian Valeri Brudow (39-3). The title fight on May 5, 2012 in Erfurt, again against Marco Huck, ended in a draw and Huck retained the WBO world title. He also lost a third duel against Huck on June 8, 2013 on points by majority decision.

On November 4, 2015, Afolabi became world champion of the IBO association by beating Rakhim Chakhkiev (24-1). He lost his title on February 27, 2016 against former WBO world champion Marco Huck after the 10th round by giving up.

Career

Afolabi began his professional career in 2002, fighting in the super middleweight and light heavyweight division . In 2003 he was overtaken by Allan Green , which prompted him to switch full-time to cruiserweight in 2004 . He defeated a heavyweight racket, Willie Chapman, as well as James Walton and Michael Simms . He also beat former cruiserweight champion Orlin Norris .

The win that put him in the spotlight came via undefeated Golden Gloves Champion Eric Fields, whom he got KO in 2008. He was immediately signed to an advertising contract with Duva Boxing . Afolabi made his national television debut on ESPN's Friday Night Fights, winning a unanimous decision over DeLeon Tinsley.

In March 2009, he scored another knockout by defeating former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli to gain the interim WBO cruiserweight title in Manchester, England.

His good run ended with a very close decision against Marco Huck in Germany.

After his fourth fight with Huck, a 10th lap stop loss, Afolabi decided to announce his retirement.

List of professional fights

year	Day	place	Opponent / target	Result for afolabi
2002	14th of February	Marriott Hotels , Irvine (California), USA	Gerard Barber	Draw (4 rounds)
	July 11th	HP Pavilion at San Jose , San Jose (California), USA	Tom Perea	Points win (4 rounds)
2003	February 7th	Radisson Hotel , Fresno (California), USA	Joe Mendoza	Points win (4 rounds)
	8th of March	Marconi Automotive Museum, Tustin (California), USA	Allan Green	Point defeat (4 rounds)
	11 April	Radisson Hotel , Fresno (California), USA	Alejandro Rafael Virgen	Points win (4 rounds)
	5th September	Stardust (hotel and casino) , Las Vegas, USA	Anthony Russell	Draw (4 rounds)
2004	13th February	Fort Cheyenne Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Germain Thedford	Points win (4 rounds)
	April 23	Orleans Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Gustavo Arroyo	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	July 9	Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Man Semou Diouf	Victory / KO 5th round
	August 27	Orleans Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Carlos Raul Ibarra	Points win (4 rounds)
	November 5th	Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Willie Chapman	Victory / TKO 2nd round
2005	January 14th	Casino Resort Spa, Rancho Mirage, USA	Jonathan Young	Draw (6 rounds)
	May 27th	Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA	James Walton	Points win (4 rounds)
	August 19th	Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Michael Simms	Points win (8 rounds)
	November 3rd	4th and B, San Diego, USA	Orlin Norris	Victory / TKO 7th round
2008	12. April	Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma (Washington), USA	Eric Fields vacant WBO-NABO championship	Victory / TKO 10th round
	15th of August	Ibiza Nightclub, Washington, USA	DeLeon Tinsley	Points win (8 rounds)
2009	the 14th of March	Manchester Evening News Arena , Manchester, UK	Enzo Maccarinelli WBO Interim World Championship	Victory / KO 9th round
	December 5th	MHPArena , Ludwigsburg, Germany	Marco Huck WBO title defense	Point defeat (12 rounds)
2010	October, 16th	O2 World Hamburg , Hamburg, Germany	Sandro Siproshvili	Points win (10 rounds)
2011	19th March	Lanxess-Arena , Cologne, Germany	Lubos Suda vacant WBO Intercontinental Championship	Victory / TKO 5th round
	2nd July	Volksparkstadion , Hamburg, Germany	Terry Dunstan WBO Intercontinental title defense	Victory / KO 1st round
	September 10	Miejski Stadium , Wroclaw, Poland	Lukasz Rusiewicz	Points win (8 rounds)
2012	3 March	ESPRIT arena , Düsseldorf, Germany	Valery Brudov WBO Interim World Championship	Victory / abandonment 5th round
	5th of May	Erfurter Messe , Erfurt, Germany	Marco Huck WBO World Championship	Draw (12 rounds)
2013	8th June	Max-Schmeling-Halle , Berlin, Germany	Marco Huck WBO World Championship	Point defeat (12 rounds)
	November 2	Madison Square Garden Theater, New York City, USA	Łukasz Janik vacant IBO World Championship	Points win (12 rounds)
2014	July 26th	Madison Square Garden , New York City, USA	Anthony Caputo Smith	Victory / abandonment 3rd round
2015	10th of April	Villa La Ñata Sporting Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Victor Emilio Ramírez IBF Interim World Championship	Point defeat (12 rounds)
	November 4th	Tatneft Arena , Kazan, Russia	Rakhim Chakhiev IBO World Championship IBF Eliminator	Victory / KO 5th round
2016	27th of February	Gerry Weber Stadium , Halle (Westf.), Germany	Marco Huck IBO title defense	Loss / abandonment 10th round

Web links

• Ola Afolabi in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Morgenpost.de: Huck remains world champion
2. ^ Warren's warning to Maccarinelli . March 15, 2009 ( bbc.co.uk [accessed May 12, 2018]).
3. ↑ Ola Afolabi calls time on boxing on 36th birthday . In: Sky Sports . ( skysports.com [accessed May 12, 2018]).