In an all-London cruiserweight derby Richard Riakporhe knocked out Deion Jumah to remain unbeaten.
Riakporhe, 32, has now beaten the best that Britain has to offer in four years with wins over Sam Hyde, Chris Billam-Smith, Jack Massey as well as Northern Ireland’s Tommy McCarthy.
Tonight’s main event pitted the two together after their original opponents Fabio Turchi and Mikael Lawal pulled out with injury. The stage was set then for a domestic cruiserweight clash that many were looking forward to.
Round 1 was a forgettable three minutes. Lots of posture, moving around with barely anything thrown.
The second showed part of the Jumah tactical plan that he believed would bring him success. Get in, throw what you can and get away from the imposing Riakporhe. Jumah whipped in a right hand behind the guard as Riakporhe looked to land that one fight-changing punch.
Jumah continued to target the body in the third and in the fourth was growing in confidence as Riakporhe offered little to worry his opponent.
The round saw Jumah double-tap with the jab and land a left through the guard, but Riakporhe’s instinctive response was deadly. A right hook turned over and dropped Jumah. It was evidence of the power that really can change a fight and the 32-year-old snarled as he watched his derby rival fall to the floor. Jumah recovered to make it to round 5.
Despite suffering a 10-8 on the cards Jumah regained his composure and got back to business. Riakporhe brought out the right hand again but could do nothing as Jumah went after head and body. It wasn’t spectacular nor a jaw-dropping spectacle, but this fight was slowly building its own drama.
After a sixth round that resembled the first Jumah was reaching in to hustle Riakporhe on the inside who was not doing enough to win these rounds.
The seventh belonged to Jumah who must have thought he was building a lead. Jumah rose for the start of round eight, but Riakporhe chose to waste little time. He clearly had enough of Jumah and 23 seconds in a straight right to the body folded the smaller cruiser who could do little about the shot and even less about getting up to fight on.
For all the skills and endeavour sometimes there can be no match for blunt force trauma.
Riakporhe moves to 14-0 with 10 KOs while Jumah loses his unbeaten record and now sits at 14-1 and 7 KOs.