Richard Riakporhe’s grudge with Lawrence Okolie persists, even if their fight didn’t materialise.
Riakporhe, who had a previous altercation with Okolie, was due to box his London rival in a heavyweight bout in April but Okolie was forced to withdraw due an injury.
That has left Riakporhe frustrated. “I think the sicknote got lost in the post. Never found it. We tried to request them to resend but we had no response,” he said.
Highlights of Richard Riakporhe’s stunning stoppage of Krzysztof Glowacki in Manchester
Riakporhe will now make his heavyweight debut in Riyadh on Sunday morning.
“Me personally I have my goals. My goal is to get a title. So anybody who has possession of those is basically on the hitlist. It’s that simple,” the Londoner said.
“I don’t have any names [he’s targeting]. Big fights as usual,” Riakporhe added. “We’re working hard to make sure that we’re prepared to make some noise.
“Many years ago I put this in my plans. I wanted to stay at cruiser, get some titles and then move up to what I call the pinnacle of boxing – the heavyweight division.”
He will be boxing on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’s undisputed super-middleweight title fight against William Scull.
Chris Billam-Smith defended his WBO cruiserweight world title against Richard Riakporhe with a unanimous decision win at Selhurst Park
“I’ve been watching Canelo since I was an amateur,” Riakporhe said. “I never thought that one day I would be part of his event.
“There’s so many elite fighters on the card, it just makes me want to impress a little bit more,” he added. “They only summon the best fighters in the world.
“We have to step up to the plate.”
Watch Naoya Inoue’s undisputed title defence against Ramon Cardenas live on Sky Sports from 1am on Monday morning.
