Now that Efe Ajagba has re-established his confidence, the hard-hitting heavyweight wants tougher fights.

The Nigerian-born Ajagba informed BoxingScene.com that he wants to face Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois or Tony Yoka. England’s Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs) secured a WBO title fight against Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) by defeating Dubois on November 28, but fights against Dubois or Yoka might be more realistic for Ajagba at some point either later this year or in 2022.

England’s Dubois (15-1, 14 KOs) is promoted by Frank Warren, who works with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., Ajagba’s promoter. France’s Yoka (10-0, 8 KOs), who won the super heavyweight gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, also is promoted by Top Rank.

“I want to have four fights this year,” Ajagba said. “Anybody they put in with me, I’m ready to fight. It’s very important for me to move up [in competition].”

Last month, Ajagba (15-0, 12 KOs) produced the most impressive knockout of his pro career on the Joe Smith Jr.-Maxim Vlasov undercard in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 6-feet-6, 239½-pound Ajagba blasted Brian Howard with a right hand that knocked Howard unconscious in the third round of a scheduled 10-rounder ESPN televised from Osage Casino Hotel.

Ajagba’s picture-perfect punch twisted Howard’s body and sent him to the canvas in an awkward position. Referee Tony Crebs immediately stopped their fight at 1:29 of the third round.

“I needed to prove that Efe is back to the way I was before,” Ajagba said. “I showed that I’m back.”

Ajagba had surgery on both elbows to repair nerve damage following his previous fight. The 2016 Olympian went the distance with Jonathan Rice in that bout, a 10-rounder September 19 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

The heavily favored Ajagba won that bout comfortably on all three scorecards (99-91, 99-91, 98-92), but he was expected to knock out Los Angeles’ Rice (13-6-1, 9 KOs).

“My elbows bothered me in that fight,” Ajagba said. “I felt much better in this fight. The surgery made my elbows better. It took two to three months to heal before I could go back to training. But now I feel 100-percent better.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.