Richard Riakporhe by no means deliberate to lose. However he suffered a painful defeat when he fought Chris Beale-Smith for the WBO heavyweight title on Saturday.
This setback will probably be made even more durable for him because the defeat he by no means anticipated got here in entrance of his residence followers at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium.
Billam-Smith used all his expertise to safe a transparent unanimous resolution victory, but it surely was the Londoner’s first world title combat and he will probably be studying from it.
When Riakporje returns, he may have choices. He stays a giant, bodily heavyweight and is a identified puncher.
In actual fact, Riakporhe is so huge that he might definitely transfer up in weight, and if he does go away the division he may have a ready-made competitor in Hackney’s Lawrence Okoli.
They have already got a feud that features a previous combat at a film premiere.
Okolie held the WBO heavyweight title and misplaced it to Billam-Smith final 12 months. He then moved to the brand new “bridgeweight”, a weight class of 224 kilos, which is acknowledged solely by the WBC and WBA.
Even earlier than boxing Billam-Smith, Riakporhe felt he might outgrow the division.
“Now there is a bridgeweight,” he mentioned Sky Sports activities fascinated by his future.
“The WBA has a bridgeweight and there may be the WBC. Okolie can also be the champion, so it is much more fights, after which we now have a heavyweight, which is just about the identical. [Oleksandr] Usyk is virtually a bridgeweight, [Deontay] Wilder was a bridgeweight.’
Okolie knocked out WBC bantamweight champion Lukasz Rozanski in only one spherical within the Pole’s hometown of Rzeszów to say the belt.
Riakporje praised this efficiency. “He did very properly and I congratulate him. I used to be additionally comfortable for him as a result of I heard he had been via lots. Even when he fought Chris Beale-Smith, lots of people do not know,” he mentioned. “There was lots happening.
“That is what we wish,” he added. “I would hate to combat half a pint of Okolie.”
Reviving that rivalry, nevertheless, was undoubtedly his objective.
“I would love that,” Riakporje mentioned. “I would love that. I feel it could be nice for London. East vs. South. The construct up could be loopy and lots of people need to see this combat.
“When Okolie went up, I seemed on the feedback on social media and everybody was upset. Why? As a result of they needed to see me in opposition to Okolie. We are able to rebuild it.’