Efe Ajagba pummelled Razvan Cojanu from start to finish to score a ninth-round knockout victory at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in the early hours of Sunday.

The unbeaten Nigerian heavyweight knocked down Cojanu twice before their scheduled 10-rounder was stopped with 2:46 minutes of the ninth round remaining.

Referee Ron Lipton ended their bout as soon as the 25-year-old Ajagba who had rained punches on the Romanian throughout the fight connected with a thudding right which brought Cojanu to his knees.

Ajagba’s record now stands at 13 wins and 11 knockouts from 13 fights as he continues to burnish his credentials in boxing’s premier division.

Thirty-two-year-old Romania’s Cojanu suffered a fourth knockout following second round stoppages to Donovan Dennis, Luis Ortiz and Daniel Dubois to put his record at 17-7, with 9 knockouts.

Ajagba, an African Games gold medallist dropped Cojanu twice in the eighth round before a left-right combination stopped Cojanu in his tracks at about the midway mark of the ninth round.