Efe Ajagba Says He Nearly Stopped Tyson Fury in Sparring

Tyson Fury has been dropped eight times across a 39-fight career and never once been stopped inside the distance. Now a ranked contender says he came closer than any of those knockdown artists — behind closed doors. Efe Ajagba, the No. 8 heavyweight at 21-1-1 (14 KO), claims he nearly finished Fury in sparring during camp for the Deontay Wilder trilogy, and says he's got it on his phone.

Speaking to FightHype, the Nigerian said everyone in the gym knows what happened, Fury included. He was clear he doesn't want to release the footage — he says he kept it to study, not to post — but warned he'll drop it online if Fury starts running his mouth. The threat is conditional: no trash talk, no tape.

The Knockdown Ledger

For context, Fury's eight professional knockdowns came courtesy of Neven Pajkic, Steve Cunningham, Wilder (four times), Francis Ngannou and Oleksandr Usyk, the latter with the ropes doing some of the holding. Wilder and Usyk are usually credited with getting closest to an actual stoppage. Ajagba is now nudging his way into that conversation without ever having shared a ring with Fury in a sanctioned bout.

Whether the claim holds up, it's a shrewd bit of positioning from a fighter on the rise. Ajagba is coming off a statement win, halting former IBF titlist Charles Martin inside four rounds on his Zuffa Boxing debut back in February. That kind of result — 15 of his 21 wins by knockout — buys a contender the right to be heard, even when the story is unverifiable gym gossip.

The problem for Ajagba is timing. He wants Fury in an official fight, but 'The Gypsy King' looks headed toward an Anthony Joshua showdown that's reportedly close to being announced. Joshua sits at 29-4 (26 KO) after stopping Jake Paul in six, and that fight sucks up all the oxygen in the division.

That likely reroutes Ajagba toward the Zuffa Boxing heavyweight title picture instead, where Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko or Ukraine's Vladyslav Sirenko loom as the more realistic next assignment. Fury may never hear the trash-talk trigger — which means, by Ajagba's own rules, the tape stays on his phone.