Richard Riakporhe (born 5 January 1990) is a

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

cruiserweight title from 2019 to 2020.

Early life

Born on 5 January 1990, Richard Riakporhe grew up on the

Aylesbury Estate The Aylesbury Estate is a large housing estate located in Walworth, South East London. The Aylesbury Estate contains 2,704 dwellings, spread over a number of different blocks and buildings, and was built between 1963 and 1977. There are approx ...

Walworth Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the Old ...

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. At the age of 15, he was stabbed in the chest outside a house party, requiring emergency surgery to drain his lungs of blood. Riakporhe had a late start to boxing; first stepping into a gym, the Lynn ABC, at the age of 19. Alongside boxing as an amateur he continued in pursuit of further education, studying at college and eventually moving on to

Kingston University , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

in south west

, earning a degree in marketing communications and advertising in 2015.

Professional career

Riakporhe made his professional debut on 6 August 2016, scoring a four-round points decision (PTS) victory over Jason Jones at the

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. Following a second win in 2016 – a

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

(TKO) over Aaron Lacy in October – he scored three consecutive TKO victories in 2017; against Istvan Orsos in February; Milan Cechvala in May; and Jiri Svacina in October. He began 2018 with a TKO victory over Adam Williams in March, followed by a win via

corner retirement A corner retirement or corner stoppage – abbreviated "RTD (Retired)" by BoxRec – are terms used in boxing to describe a fight that ends when, during any rest period between rounds, a boxer refuses to continue or their corner pulls them out, ...

(RTD) against Elvis Dube in July. Riakporhe's final fight of 2018 was against

Sam Hyde Samuel Whitcomb Hyde (born April 16, 1985) is an American comedian. He co-created the sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme (MDE) with Charls Carroll and Nick Rochefort. Hyde is known for his involvement in several public pranks and int ...

on 10 November at the

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...

, with the vacant WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title on the line. Riakporhe won via eighth-round TKO after Hyde's trainer, Joe Gallagher, threw in the towel after Hyde sustained an eye injury from a right hook. Riakporhe was behind on all three judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with two judges scoring the bout 68–65 while the third scored it 67–66. The fight was televised live on Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom and streamed through

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

in the United States as part of the undercard of

Oleksandr Usyk Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk ( uk, Олекса́ндр Олекса́ндрович У́сик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified ...

vs.

Tony Bellew Anthony Lewis Bellew (born 30 November 1982) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017, and challeng ...

. The first defence of his WBA title came on 2 March 2019 against Tommy McCarthy at the East of England Arena in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. Riakporhe dropped his opponent twice en route to a fourth-round TKO. He defended the title for a second time against Chris Billam-Smith on 20 July at

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, London. Riakporhe won by split decision (SD), with two judges scoring the bout in favour of Riakporhe at 97–92 and 95–94, while the third scored it to Smith at 96–93. The fight was televised live on Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom and streamed through DAZN in the United States as part of the undercard for Dillian Whyte vs. Óscar Rivas. Riakporhe was scheduled to face Jack Massey on 19 December 2019 for the vacant British cruiserweight title. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111. Riakporhe returned from a near two-year layoff to face Krzysztof Twardowski on 2 October 2021 in his first non-title bout since 28 July 2018. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 79-72. A month later, Riakporhe beat

Olanrewaju Durodola Olanrewaju Durodola (born 16 October 1980) is a Nigerian professional boxer who has held the African cruiserweight title since February 2020, and previously the WBC Silver cruiserweight title from 2015 to 2016. As an amateur he competed at t ...

by a fifth-round technical knockout to capture the vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title. Riakporhe was booked to face Fabio Turchi on 26 March 2022, in the main event of a BOXXER Fight Night card which will take place at the

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-s ...

in London, England. Turchi withdrew from the bout on 9 March, due to injuries sustained in training, and was replaced by Deion Jumah. He won the fight by knockout, flooring Jumah with a right straight to the body early in the eight round. Riakporhe faced Turchi on the 11 June 2022, once again as the main event of a BOXXER card. Riakporhe extended his unbeaten record again in an IBF world title eliminator, flooring Turchi in the second with a body shot. Turchi rose to his feet after the eight count, but, with Turchi being visibly hurt, his corner threw in the towel. Referee Steve Gray stopped the fight 1:53 into the round. Riakporhe faced the former two-time WBO cruiserweight world champion

Krzysztof Głowacki Krzysztof Głowacki (born 31 July 1986) is a Polish professional boxer who has held the WBO cruiserweight title twice; from 2015 to 2016 and again in 2019 (elevated from interim champion). As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the super-heav ...

on 21 January 2023 (on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr. vs Liam Smith). He won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout. On June 15, 2023, the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

cruiserweight champion

Jai Opetaia Jai Opetaia (born 30 June 1995) is an Australian professional boxer who has held the IBF and '' The Ring'' world cruiserweight titles since July 2022. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the 2012 Youth World Championships and represented ...

was ordered to make a mandatory title defense against Riakporhe. He entered into negotiations with Opetaia in lieu of

Mateusz Masternak Mateusz Masternak (born 2 May 1987 in Iwaniska, Poland) is a Polish professional boxer fighting in the Cruiserweight division. He is a former EBU (European) Cruiserweight champion. Amateur career Masternak had been living in Iwaniska until he ...

, who withdrew from a scheduled purse bid with the Australian the day before.

Outside of boxing

Drawing from his experiences of a troubled upbringing, Riakporhe set up a company, Richard Riakporhe Foundation, which focuses on talking to schoolchildren on positive thinking and the dangers of knife crime. Riakporhe is a supporter of

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

., url=https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/programme/how-palace-fan-richard-riakporhe-overcame-stabbing-to-become-cruiserweight-champion-boxer/2020-09-22/ , title=How Palace fan Richard Riakporhe overcame stabbing to become cruiserweight champion boxer.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riakporhe, Richard Living people 1990 births English male boxers Boxers from Greater London Cruiserweight boxers