Former Anthony Joshua foe suffers spiteful knockout loss on Zuffa Boxing card

Efe Ajagba only needed four rounds to get rid of former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin.

The Nigerian Olympian met Martin in the main event of Dana White‘s Zuffa Boxing 3 at the Meta Apex, Las Vegas, on Saturday night.

And while it was a short night, it wasn’t a simple one

Martin got the better of the action for the first two rounds as he repeatedly found a home for his left straight from the southpaw stance.

In the dying embers of the second round, Martin stopped Ajagba in his tracks with his trademark shot.

But it only served to wake up Ajagba, who decked Martin with a backhand of his own midway through the third stanza.

Sensing he had a wounded animal in front of him, Ajagba piled on the pressure as Martin staggered around the ring on wobbly legs.

Referee Thomas Taylor’s decision to stop the action to put Martin’s gumshield back into his mouth helped him weather the storm and see out the round, although it merely delayed the inevitable.

Martin was sent tumbling back down to the canvas 20 seconds into the fourth round, courtesy of another big right hand.

And when he regained his footing, Ajagba swarmed him, resulting in Taylor stepping in and waving off the fight against the ropes.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of his victory, Ajagba said: “I’m ready to fight anyone in the division.

“I’m ranked in the top 10, but no one is saying my name.

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“I’m putting the heavyweight division on notice.”

Ajagba improves to 21-1-1 and returns to winning ways after being held to a draw by Martin Bakole last time out in May.

The victory will more than likely catapult him into a big Saudi fight, but for Martin, his next steps are less clear.

‘Prince Charles’ (30-5-1) is fast approaching 40 and has lost three of his last five fights.

With nothing left to achieve in his career, retirement beckons for the Missouri boxer.

Martin picked up the vacant IBF heavyweight belt in January 2016 after Vyacheslav Glazkov tore his ACL in an abrupt end to their title fight.

Three months later, Anthony Joshua dethroned the American with a two-round demolition job in London.