Unbeaten cruiserweight Richard Riakporhe: World champions should want to fight me…I’m a big payday

Richard Riakporhe is confident he will not need to be made a mandatory challenger to land a crack at one of the world champions in the cruiserweight division.

The unbeaten 32-year-old, from Walworth, faces Italian Fabio Turchi at Wembley Arena tomorrow night in what has been billed as an eliminator for the IBF title, held by Mairis Breidis.

And Riakporhe (14-0, 10KOs) reckons that he would represent a final decent payday for the 37-year-old Latvian.

Breidis has previously tried to entice YouTuber Jake Paul into a fight.

Riakporhe said: “The cruiserweight division is alive because of the likes of myself and [Lawrence] Okolie. All eyes are on us.

“If you want to make good money for a defence then it makes sense to offer a voluntary to me. We are prizefighters, it’s all about making good money.”

Breidis (28-1, 20KOs) is due to defend his title against Jai Opetaia in Australia on July 2.

“After that fight we’ll see what he does but I feel he is on his way out,” said Riakporhe. “That is why he was trying to make the fight with Jake Paul, but his team weren’t interested because they knew how dangerous that would be.

“In boxing you get a lot of wear and tear on the body and it is a young man’s sport. He is realising that he needs to cash out and that’s why he was calling out a YouTuber.”

Riakporhe, as so often is the case, will have a significant height and reach advantage over Turchi.

The South Londoner is 6ft 5ins tall and the longer-term plan is for him to campaign at heavyweight.

“I’m bigger and stronger than even the big, strong guys at cruiserweight – you saw that when I fought Chris Billam-Smith,” said Riakporhe. “If I was to fight Okolie then he would notice that as well.

“After the weigh-in I fill out and I go in there like a heavyweight. I use all those advantages. Turchi is definitely going to feel my power and physical strength, he’ll know I’m there.

“I’m a big, strong guy with heavy bones, it is very difficult to trouble me.

“I know Turchi like the back of my hand.

“He likes to throw his hooks and come forward with that classic guard, he holds that pretty tight. That will be his downfall.

“We’ll see what fighting style he tries to adapt. I think he’ll try and play dirty because these fighters don’t have anything else. If they were that great they wouldn’t have any need to do that stuff.”

Riakporhe has sparred with Deion Jumah, who he beat in the eighth round at Wembley Arena.

The Chelsea southpaw had caused Riakporhe issues before a right to the body dropped him for the full count.

“I was supposed to be boxing Turchi then but something happened and that’s the reason me and Jumah ended up squaring up,” said Riakporhe. “We had a choice, we could either make the show go on or I would have had to wait until Fabio would be ready.

“I thought Deion would be great preparation for me because even though I won in great fashion he still looked decent in some rounds and was kind of tricky to nail down.

“I messaged him and said let’s put everything aside and help prepare for our next fights, because he has got a big British title fight coming up.

“I’ve sparred a lot of champions, a lot of amateur champions – ABA champions, European champions and Olympic Youth gold medallists. I’ve had a lot of solid pros and heavyweights, every single type has been in the gym.

“This is probably my best camp, when we discuss preparation.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD