Richard Riakporhe Vs Lawrence Okolie continues to be aggressively advertised by Sky Sports despite Okolie defending his world title against Chris Billam-Smith in Bournemouth in less than three weeks time.
Riakporhe (16-0, 12 KOs) and Okolie (19-0, 14 KOs), who clashed at the Creed 3 Premiere two months ago, were once again paraded before the media on Saturday night in Birmingham after Joshua Buatsi defeated Pawel Stepien on the network.
However, talk soon turned in the direction of another world champion at 200 pounds, WBA belt holder Arsen Goulamirian.
“My team are working diligently behind closed doors to try to pull that fight off.” Said Riakporhe in an interview for ProBox TV News. “It is looking promising, looking very promising. At the moment we are just doing what we need to do in the gym. It’s all good talking about opportunities, but if I’m not ready obviously it won’t be good for me.”
The Sky Sports machine aggressively continues its advertisement of Okolie Vs Riakporhe. However, it is far from happening with Okolie out in Bournemouth this month.
“I never would want to wait.” Riakporhe said. “To be honest there is no security. If CBS wins, that will change the whole landscape. That is the reality of it, nothing is certain. We have to make sure we have our own path, which we do! We need to focus on that and then hopefully things are going to work out how we believed it was going to work out. But those domestic fights, even if they lose or not, I still want [to fight] them.”
Originally from Armenia, Goulamirian (27-0, 18 KOs) has fought primarily in France throughout his career. He last defended his title with a decision win over Aleksei Egorov after a near three year layoff.
“I would, I would go over there.” Riakporhe responded to whether he would make the trip to France to fight for the title. “It would go well with what I am trying to do here. It’s not just about boxing for me, it’s also about legacy. It is about making money, but it is about setting an example and being remembered. We see why we rate [Oleksandr] Usyk as the pound-4-pound number 1. This what he has done throughout his whole career, go to peoples back yards and fight champions. Not for vacant titles, champions and he beat them! I believe I can do the same thing. What’s stopping me?
“You know what is really funny? I haven’t even shown you guys what I really got. There are only certain sorts of opponents who can draw that out of me. I have everything, that is why people talk about me a lot.”
It has been reported that Riakporhe could face Goulamirian in Paris as early as July. The talented cruiserweight refused to comment.
