Not Anthony Joshua, Efe Ajagba can emulate Samuel Peter to become Nigeria's 2nd heavyweight boxing champion

In boxing, the heavyweight class is the most glamorous, but it's also the most conservative.

There aren't many heavyweights under 30 in the major sanctioning bodies' current top-10 ranks.

The WBC has 29-year-old Efe Ajagba ranked fifth and will compete on April 13 in Corpus Christi, Texas, on a Top Rank/ESPN show.

Ajagba has now dropped two of his previous 21 bouts.

The first was after the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he was defeated by Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan.

The second occurred in his sixteenth professional bout, where he was defeated by Cuban import Frank Sanchez, a boxer with an extensive and illustrious amateur career, via a 10-round decision.

Dychko and Sanchez are both unbeaten as professionals. Though Ajagba didn't start boxing until he was in his late teens, it might be said that he has progressed more.

Even though the Cuban won easily on the scorecards, he would be the favorite to beat Dychko if they fought again and would be no worse than "pick-'em" in a rematch with Frank Sanchez.

Although Ajagba has won four fights after his battle with Sanchez, his two elbow surgeries are more significant in terms of his handicap.

Nigeria's Delta area is home to Ughelli, where Ajagba was born.

He has the opportunity to follow the footsteps of Samiel Peter and become a heavyweight champion.

The other boxers on his team were defeated in the Olympic qualifying round, hence he was the only Nigerian fighter to make it to Rio.

Despite not winning a medal, he attracted the attention of Al Hayman's Premier Boxing Champions agent and Hall of Fame facilitator Shelly Finkel.

He was given an apartment by PBC in Stafford, Texas, a Houston suburb and home of renowned trainer Ronnie Shields.

Ajagba would become Nigeria's second heavyweight champion if Shields' prophecy came true since Anthony Joshua was born and raised in England but has Nigerian ancestry.