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Holyfield influence and weight struggles - Why Richard Riakporhe is moving to heavyweight
Richard Riakporhe will finally make his long-awaited debut at heavyweight this weekend, with the former British cruiserweight champion a late addition to the Canelo-Scull card in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, May 3.
While he had been set to face London rival Lawrence Okolie in April before an injury scuppered that match, Riakporhe has long spoken about his desire to step up to the most glamorous of boxing’s weight classes.
From struggling to make weight at the 200-pound mark to taking inspiration from cruisers-turned-heavies such as Evander Holyfield and Oleksandr Usyk, we take a look at the reasoning behind Riakporhe’s decision to move up a division.
Failed world title bid sees Richard Riakporhe close cruiserweight chapter
Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images
A former British and Commonwealth champion at 200 pounds, Richard Riakporhe finally got a shot at a world title back in June 2024, when he faced reigning WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith.
Riakporhe had beaten Billam-Smith via split decision back in 2019, but 'The Gentleman' enacted revenge with a unanimous decision at Selhurst Park last summer.
That shot at world glory represents Riakporhe’s most-recent bout, with the 35-year-old putting the cruiserweight division behind him.
Coincidentally, Riakporhe is following a similar career path to Okolie.
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After losing his WBO cruiserweight title to Billam-Smith, Okolie decided to leave the 200lb division.
However, rather than go directly to heavyweight, Okolie opted to take part in the fledgling ranks of bridgerweight, becoming a two-weight champion in May 2024 when he defeated Łukasz Różański for the WBC belt.
Okolie's stint at bridgerweight was very brief; vacating his title to step up to heavyweight. In December, he beat Hussein Muhamed in one round, positioning himself for a match against Riakporhe. However, injury curtailed a bout slated for the undercard of Joyce-Whyte, a fight that was also nixed due to an issue for Dillian Whyte.
Richard Riakporhe’s physical features a boon at heavyweight
The six-foot-five Riakporhe often towered over opponents at cruiserweight. The height advantage was also a major drawback, with the former cruiserweight admitting that it was difficult to get down to 200 pounds ahead of a fight.
However, he still managed to stay under the limit for all but one of his fights as a cruiserweight, weighing in at 202 pounds for his bout with Dylan Bregeon in November 2023. While he would later manage to make weight for his title shot against Chris Billam-Smith, Riakporhe ultimately opted to avoid the stress of cutting weight by going up a division.
Of course, with no upper limit for heavyweights, Riakporhe now has the freedom of filling out his frame.
Riakporhe told the Daily Mirror: "I am a big guy, six-feet-five, I can hold a lot of a weight and I have sparred lots of heavyweights. I just think it makes sense, naturally; coming down in weight to 200lb isn't always easy. Naturally, I think definitely go up to heavyweight and have some big fights and the fans will love it.”
Richard Riakporhe hoping to follow in the footsteps of Evander Holyfield
(Getty Images)
Richard Riakporhe also shared how he has drawn inspiration from legends of the sport such as Evander Holyfield and Oleksandr Usyk. Both the 'Real Deal' and the current heavyweight champion have mastered both the cruiser and heavyweight divisions.
However, the list of successful cruisers-turned-heavies is very short. The Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck, a unified champion at cruiserweight, failed to make a dent in the higher weight division. Vassiliy Jirov also moved up after being a champion to become merely a stepping stone in the division. Former world champion Orlin Norris also moved into the heavyweight division, realised how thin the air became up there, and then dropped back down to cruiserweight.
Even David Haye, who unified two cruiserweight titles, managed to win only a single heavyweight title that he lost comprehensively a few bouts later to Wladimir Klitschko in their unification in Hamburg.
Holyfield and Usyk are the exception rather than the rule.
Undefeated and undisputed at cruiserweight, Holyfield made it his mission to chase down Mike Tyson in 1988. Whilst circumstances would prevent Holyfield from taking the belts away from Tyson directly, he became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world when he defeated Buster Douglas in 1990. That saw Holyfield become the first ever fighter to become undisputed in two separate weight classes – a feat since matched and arguably surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, and Usyk.
Holyfield’s stint as undisputed champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight came during the three-belt era; Crawford, Inoue, and Usyk managed that achievement following the recognition of the WBO as a major strap in boxing.
Usyk remains undefeated after collecting all the belts at the 200-pound mark and above it, with the Ukrainian hoping to reunite the straps with a unification rematch against Daniel Dubois in July this year.
Speaking about Holyfield, Riakporhe shared: “What he was able to do when he stepped up from being an undisputed cruiserweight champion, to fighting George Foreman and Mike Tyson. Usyk as well, I want to see myself do something like that so I am definitely going to challenge myself and go up."
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