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Efe Ajagba Vs. Charles Martin Preview

Originally posted on BoxingNews.com | Last updated Feb 13, 2026 3:44 AM ET

Efe Ajagba faces former IBF Heavyweight Champion Charles Martin on February 15, as we preview this fight.

Ajagba enters the ring with a record of 20-1-1. He is currently looking to bounce back from a majority draw against Martin Bakole in May 2025—a fight many observers felt Ajagba deserved to win. Before that setback, he had put together a five-fight win streak, including wins over names like Joseph Goodall and Zhan Kossobutskiy.

Martin, a former IBF titleholder, brings a wealth of experience and a 30-4-1 record into the bout. 27 of his 30 wins have come by way of knockout. Martin was last seen in November 2024, where he made short work of Matthew McKinney with a first-round stoppage.

Pre-Fight

“Everybody knows that I won my last fight. But we move forward to this fight, and I all can think of is sticking to my gameplan and stuff like that. I’ve been working hard in training camp, in sparring, all that stuff. So my main focus is to just go to the ring and do what I’ve got to do.

“My gameplan was perfect. Everything we did in that fight was moving around, because the guy loves to fight, he loves to punch. He’s a big guy, so of course, he doesn’t want to move. He wanted me to stand in front of him to fight. My gameplan was just to move, move, move; punch, punch, punch. But, at the end of the day, they made the fight a draw. It’s a disappointing result (but) I have to take it. It is what it is,” Ajagba said

I’m just gonna systematically break him down. I got a lot of tools in my arsenal, so break him down and get him out of there. We don’t plan on going 10 rounds, so we gonna make this a knockout. I gotta get this knockout, a spectacular knockout, because I want all the bonuses, I want all the good shit, I want all the praise, and I want the big fights,” Martin said