British champion to defend against former cruiserweight title challenger.
Last week, it had been reported that popular Romford ticket-seller Johnny Fisher had agreed terms to challenge Jeamie TKV for the British heavyweight title.
A few days later, ‘The Romford Bull’ appeared in an interview with First Round TV where he stated that though the fight was agreed to take place on a Matchroom Boxing card, the BBC were planning on staging a show on the same date and promoters were still deciding on what to do.
And yesterday, it was revealed that the TKV-Fisher fight has been axed. In an interview with “The Stomping Ground”, Eddie Hearn stated that even though the date and venue was agreed upon, Boxxer ultimately refused to move forward with it due to the card they had scheduled on the same date.
That date of the 7th of March was still in play for Jeamie TKV, though, but at the Royal Albert Hall against a different opponent.
It was revealed shortly after just who that opponent is set to be.
Jeamie TKV is quite an unexpected British champion, having won the belt in a surprising win over Frazer Clarke on Boxxer’s first BBC card in late November.
This came after TKV’s first challenge for the British title against David Adeleye, who was outboxed before ultimately stopping TKV following a controversial shot landed on the break.
According to Uncrowned, Jeamie TKV (9-2, 5 KOs) is set to defend the belt he recently won against former cruiserweight Richard ‘The Midnight Train’ Riakporhe (19-1, 15 KOs).
Riakporhe was previously a contender in the 200-pound weight class, where he built a reputation as a heavy-handed punisher and potential future titleholder.
Riakporhe would eventually get to challenge Chris Billam-Smith, who was the reigning WBO cruiserweight champion at the time. This fight was actually the second between the pair, their first encounter having come much earlier in their careers and ending in a split-decision win for Riakporhe.
However, Billam-Smith was able to turn the tables the second time around, convincingly outboxing a surprisingly listless Riakporhe to win on the cards.
After the first loss of his career, Riakporhe chose to move up to heavyweight, with his debut at the division set to be against fellow former cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie.
Okolie ended up pulling out, and the fight was cancelled entirely.
Ultimately, Riakporhe would make his heavyweight debut against the tough Kevin Nicolas Espindola on the Canelo Álvarez VS. William Scull undercard. Riakporhe would win by stoppage.
Riakporhe was last seen in action on the Chris Eubank Jr. VS. Conor Benn 2 card when he tore through the 16-0 Tommy Welch in two rounds.
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