Richard Riakporhe

Richard Riakporhe (born 5 January 1990) is a British professional boxer who held the British cruiserweight title from 2019 to September 2020.

Early life[]

Born on 5 January 1990, Richard Riakporhe grew up on the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth, London. 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.^[2] Alongside boxing as an amateur he continued in pursuit of further education, studying at college and eventually moving on to Kingston University in London, earning a degree in marketing communications and advertising in 2015.^[3]

Professional career[]

Riakporhe made his professional debut on 6 August 2018, scoring a four-round points decision (PTS) victory over Jason Jones at the York Hall in London.^[4] Following a second win in 2016 – a technical knockout (TKO) over Aaron Lacy in October^[5] – he scored three consecutive TKO victories in 2017; against Istvan Orsos in February;^[6] Milan Cechvala in May;^[7] and Jiri Svacina in October.^[8]

He began 2018 with a TKO victory over Adam Williams in March,^[9] followed by a win via corner retirement (RTD) against Elvis Dube in July.^[10] Riakporhe's final fight of 2018 was against Sam Hyde on 10 November at the Manchester Arena, 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.^[11] 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.^[12] 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 of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tony Bellew.^[13]

The first defence of his WBA title came on 2 March 2019 against Tommy McCarthy at the East of England Arena in Peterborough. Riakporhe dropped his opponent twice en route to a fourth-round TKO.^[14] He defended the title for a second time against Chris Billam-Smith on 20 July at The O2 Arena, 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.^[15] 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.^[16] Riakporhe was scheduled to face Jack Massey on December 19, 2019, for the vacant British cruiserweight title.^[17] He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111.^[18]

Riakporhe returned from a near two year layoff to face Krzysztof Twardowski on October 2, 2021, in his first non-title bout since July 28, 2018. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 79-72.^[19] A month later, Riakporhe beat Olanrewaju Durodola by a fifth-round technical knockout to capture the vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title.^[20]

Outside of boxing[]

Drawing from his experiences of a troubled upbringing, Riakporhe set up a company, Enhancing Minds, which focuses on talking to schoolchildren on positive thinking and the dangers of knife crime.^[2][21] Riakporhe is a supporter of Crystal Palace F.C.^[22]

Professional boxing record[]

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
13	Win	13–0	Olanrewaju Durodola	TKO	5 (10), 0:36	20 Nov 2021	The SSE Arena Wembley, London, England	Won vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title
12	Win	12–0	Krzysztof Twardowski	UD	8	2 Oct 2021	The SSE Arena Wembley, London, England
11	Win	11–0	Jack Massey	UD	12	19 Dec 2019	York Hall, London, England	Won vacant British cruiserweight title
10	Win	10–0	Chris Billam-Smith	SD	10	20 Jul 2019	The O2 Arena, London, England	Retained WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title
9	Win	9–0	Tommy McCarthy	TKO	4 (10), 2:45	2 Mar 2019	East of England Arena, Peterborough, England	Retained WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title
8	Win	8–0	Sam Hyde	TKO	8 (10), 2:41	10 Nov 2018	Manchester Arena, Manchester, England	Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title
7	Win	7–0	Elvis Dube	RTD	2 (4), 3:00	28 Jul 2018	The O2 Arena, London, England
6	Win	6–0	Adam Williams	TKO	3 (4), 2:38	24 Mar 2018	The O2 Arena, London, England
5	Win	5–0	Jiri Svacina	TKO	2 (6), 0:46	14 Oct 2017	York Hall, London, England
4	Win	4–0	Milan Cechvala	TKO	1 (4), 2:15	27 May 2017	York Hall, London, England
3	Win	3–0	Istvan Orsos	TKO	1 (4), 2:54	18 Feb 2017	York Hall, London, England
2	Win	2–0	Aaron Lacy	TKO	1 (4), 2:14	1 Oct 2016	York Hall, London, England
1	Win	1–0	Jason Jones	PTS	4	6 Aug 2016	York Hall, London, England

References[]

External links[]

• Official website

• Boxing record for Richard Riakporhe from BoxRec