Richard Riakporhe delivered a career best performance in a mature yet explosive showing against former WBO world cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Glowacki. The Co-Main event to the highly anticipated encounter between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith was fitting for this event as one of British boxing most explosive stars introduced himself to the world scene. The event in Mancheser at the AO arena marks the official return of boxing in the UK for 2023.
A Cagey opening round daw both fighters happy to stalk eachother in the opening minuite, Riakporhe was happy to land a few jabs half way through the round to reset the distance. Glowacki was able to close the distance in the final minute and try to work up close in small bursts but his shots were mainly blocked on the arms.
Round two saw Riakporhe unleash a heavy right straight hand flush on the chin of Glowacki which had the Polish fighter seriously wobbled and staggered. Glowacki was able to recover and see out the right and attempt to fight back with more work upclose as Riakporhe was happy to bide his time. Round three was a more tame affair with Riakporhe happy to sit on the back foot and use his reach with jabs flicking out to keep Glowacki at bay. The final twenty seconds saw the South Londoner unleash a three punch combo which Glowacki rode well and was unaffected.
The fourth round saw Riakporhe and Glowacki exchange shots and it was evidently to see that the former WBO cruiserweight king was out gunned as Riakporhe answered the question of if he can take a shot against genuine world level opposition. Riakporhe and Glowacki exchanged shots in the final minute of the round which saw Glowacki hurt to the body off a left hook to the body. The Polish fighter was then pounced on by Riakporhe with a brutal assault to the head which saw Glowacki trapped in the corner and not shooting shots back and turned away from the action, Referee Howard Foster was forced to wave off the action after 2:44 of the round and see’s Riakporhe maintain his unbeaten record as a profesional and continue his rise towards a world title opportunity.
Richard improves his record to 16-0 (12kos) while Glowacki drops to 32-4.