Selhurst Park is just a few miles from the Aylesbury estate in south London where Richard Riakporhe grew up.
But Riakporhe has come a very long way to get here when, on Saturday, he fights for a world title on the pitch at Crystal Palace.
To fight for the WBO championship this weekend, live Aerial sportsin the stadium of the football club he supports, in a rematch against his British rival Chris Billam-Smith, it is a dream for him.
It’s the culmination of a journey he almost didn’t get to begin. When he was only 15 years old, Riakporhe was the victim of a stabbing which he was lucky to survive. He still bears the scar of this brush with death. It’s a reminder now of how he changed his whole life.
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Chris Billam-Smith received a cold response from Richard Riakporhe when he predicted he would retain his WBO world title by knockout on Saturday night.
“I walked off the street straight to the boxing gym,” he said. Aerial sports. “I have gone through the difficult path.
“I learned like a true apprentice.”
The Lynn, the country’s oldest boxing club and a south-east London institution, set him on this new path.
“I fell in love with the sport. It gave me purpose, it gave me drive, it gave me something to do, kept me out of trouble and before you know it, soon after, I competed for amateur championships,” Riakporhe said.
“I said you know what, I wanted to pursue my passion and my passion was boxing. I just felt like it was perfect for me and who I am as a human being. I’m very ambitious I always wanted to work towards something in my life and this was everything.”
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Don’t miss our latest episode of “The Gloves Are Off” featuring cruiserweight rivals Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe.
He didn’t even realize that he possessed a unique quality that would later distinguish him as a professional: his formidable punching power.
In his first amateur fight, he hesitated. He backed away.
“I didn’t want to get hit. As an amateur, I always believed that everyone had the same power as me. I thought it was normal to be able to hit like that. I didn’t want to get hit with it. that type of power striking so I was always moving and then when I landed my shots, the fight was over, I knocked him out in the first round,” Riakporhe recalled.
“It was a series of knockouts. I remember going to the championships and knocking everyone out to get to the finals. I was known for being a big puncher back then.”
Billam-Smith, in his own quest to avenge his only career defeat to Riakporhe, believes he can turn the Londoner’s punching power into a weakness. He thinks Riakporhe relies too much on that power, waiting for a knockout and giving up rounds. This is what Billam-Smith intends to exploit.
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Ahead of Chris Billam-Smith’s WBO cruiserweight world title fight with Richard Riakporhe at Selhurst Park, look back at some of the biggest stadium fights in British boxing history.
Riakporhe naturally rejected this idea. “It’s completely absurd,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m lazy or not, whether I win the rounds or not. There are fights I’ve been in that I didn’t come in with the intention of winning the rounds. I just I wanted the knockout.
“I’ve hit so many people that I know when I shoot, I’ll do a lot of damage, even if they don’t get knocked out.”
He admitted: “It’s a blessing to have a skill like that, but it can be a curse at the same time. It can make you a little lazy.
“I went back to the gym and corrected that laziness and that’s what makes me even more dangerous now.”
This fight will be Riakporhe’s first attempt at a world title, but he has already beaten Billam-Smith.
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The Toe2Toe panel discusses the WBO cruiserweight world title fight between Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe and whether Riakporhe’s natural power will once again be a problem for Billam-Smith’s shaky defense.
“He has to make up for his loss. He has to get one back,” the Londoner said. “He can’t live with his own failure and that for me is the blemish on his record.
“Because guess what, it actually brought me full circle.
“So what does that mean? Have you really progressed? Because if you really had progressed, you wouldn’t have to see ‘Midnight Train’ again. But we’re back here.”
He added: “I’m not giving ‘The Gentleman’ another chance. There won’t be a trilogy. This fight is where it ends. I’ll do it again and that’s it. There won’t be third chance for him.”
For Riakporhe, winning this fight “would mean everything”.
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Ellie Scotney and George Groves share what they think could make the difference in Chris Billam-Smith’s fight against Richard Riakporhe.
“Because we had a goal and the goal was to become world champions and move on. I never thought I would be able to play on the pitch for my favorite football team. Just being able to represent Crystal Palace was enough for me. It felt good to be entrusted with their brand, what they represent, as a fellow South Londoner, it’s very humbling for me,” he said.
“I will do everything to make sure I win this title, not only to win it myself, but also to give hope to everyone in south London. Everyone has their individual struggles, things that they crosses that no one knows, just to be a kind of reference to them.
“As if I could do it because of my past, of all the things I had to overcome, being stabbed when I was 15, being on the verge of death, being a product of my environment, being able to to get by, everything has always been a struggle and I just want to be that kind of reference for them that I’m one of you, I’m not a superstar.
“I’m just a normal guy. A normal working class guy who just had dreams and was ambitious and I made something of myself.
“You can also do the same thing.”
Last remaining tickets for Billam-Smith vs Riakporhe available via Boxxer.com.
Watch Chris Billam-Smith defend his WBO cruiserweight world title against Richard Riakporhe at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace, live on Sky Sports on Saturday June 15; Or Stream with NOW
