Top heavyweight contender British Richard Riakpore (16-0, 12 KOs) told his version of the recent incident – he fought with compatriot champion Lawrence Okoli (18-0, 14 KOs). Top cruiserweight representatives met by chance in London (England) at the premiere movie “Creed 3” — that’s how it all ended.
Riakpore decided to tell how it all began: “I met my friends there. With the same Craig Richards. We stood quietly and chatted. And that’s where Lawrence comes in. He immediately intervenes in our conversation and turns to me. I consider this behavior to be disrespectful. The fuck are you invading my personal space? It’s like a red rag to a bull for me. I don’t even know what happened next. Everyone parted. And I just threw it at him. They tried to calm us down. And I realized that now is the best time to just leave.”
Riakpore claims to control himself. Therefore, he did not use his fists: “I don’t even know what exactly he said. Need to rewatch the video. Sometimes after episodes like this, you really don’t remember what was said. What was, was. It’s good that no one gave free rein to the fists. I agree that we, professional boxers, should behave decently. And that certainly wasn’t polite behavior. But we are only human. This applies to both me and Okoli. I controlled myself, but I felt that a little more, and my fists would come into play. And then I said to myself: “Richard, don’t do this!”
Riakopore does not hide that he dreams of throwing the champion off the throne: “I feel that this is my destiny. I think that without a fight with him, I will never be satisfied with my career. Without a fight with him, I will never be able to say that I have achieved everything that I wanted. I have always considered myself #1. And I want to prove it. When we meet him in the ring, it will be something special. It will be a spectacle from the PG category – viewing by persons under 18 is prohibited or only in the presence of parents.
In the meantime, Okoli had other goals – he assessed his chances of getting a fight against Anthony Joshua. And his new promoter Benjamin Shalom (boxer) reminds everyone that Lawrence is now sitting on top of a mountain.
There is one fat plus in this story – Riakpore is also on Shalom’s contract. In January, he quickly destroyed Glowacki and then turned to the champions: “Gulamiryan, Okoli, Opetai, Makabu! I’ll come for you.”
