‘I’m a dangerous man’ – Richard Riakporhe accuses cruiserweight rivals of being scared to face him
Richard Riakporhe has accused some of his cruiserweight rivals of being scared to step into the ring with him.
The 32-year-old South Londoner faces Deion Jumah tomorrow night at Wembley Arena in a clash of two undefeated fighters.
Riakporhe (13-0, nine KOs) had initially been due to face Fabio Turchi on the BOXXER show, which will be live on Sky Sports, but the Italian withdrew due to injury.
Now he will face Hammersmith southpaw Jumah (14-0, seven KOs), who also saw his opponent Mikael Lawal drop out of the same show after picking up a problem as well.
Riakporhe is unconvinced by Turchi’s withdrawal.
“I just feel like these guys know what they are getting in the ring with and probably just shy away – they are scared,” the Walworth puncher told the South London Press.
“Everyone has their excuses. Not everybody has the perfect camp, these things happen. I think he knew he was going to get knocked out.
“You have to give Jumah credit for stepping in the ring with me. We’ve tried to make a lot of fights – you’d be surprised how many turned it down.
“I’m a very, very dangerous man.
“If I’d fought Turchi then I would have been ranked very high by the IBF – number one. But everything happens for a reason – some obstacles come in your way and you have to stay on the path. The opportunities will come when they come.”
Riakporhe holds a split decision win over Chris Billam-Smith, who has gone on to claim the European and Commonwealth belts.
Injury issues kept Riakporhe out of the ring for 22 months until he returned in October 2021.
“I believe this is going to be my best performance,” he said. “I feel everything is going to come together.
“I’ve had interesting fights before where you can see I had potential but it wasn’t all there, I wasn’t utilising all by attributes.
“I know there is talk that Jumah is tricky but we’ve sparred before and I don’t remember him being awkward. My boxing IQ has improved since then – he will be in for a shocker.
“I’ve almost got an alter ego when I fight. I go into a completely different mode – I just want to destroy.”
The show is heavily studded with South London boxers.
Dan Azeez (15-0) defends his British light-heavyweight title against Matthew Tinker (8-0).
Chris Kongo and Caroline Dubois are also due to be in action.
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