Richard Riakporhe warns Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez that moving to cruiserweight is 'a big ask - he has to put on 30lbs'
Stay up all night on Saturday with Sky Sports Boxing! Richard Riakporhe, Florian Marku and Adam Azim feature from 8pm, then Terence Crawford fights Shawn Porter from 2am
Friday 19 November 2021 17:24, UK
Richard Riakporhe has delivered a warning to Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez not to underestimate his jump up to the cruiserweight division ahead of an unlikely collision course.
Undefeated Riakporhe was in impeccable shape at his weigh-in to fight Olanrewaju Durodola on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, in a WBC title eliminator.
The WBC belt is held by Ilunga Makabu but, this week, the governing body granted Canelo's request to remarkably jump up two divisions to challenge for it.
"He is chasing greatness," Riakporhe said. "He is phenomenal. He is paving the way for us fighters.
"It is a big ask to fight somebody of Makabu's weight.
"Canelo has to put on 30lbs of good muscle to compete.
"I still think he will pull off a win!
"Imagine me winning my title tomorrow then being mandatory to fight Canelo.
"I'm taking this as a world title fight. That's how I'm approaching it.
"[WBC president] Mauricio Sulaiman sent a message saying: 'This is a major opportunity for you'."
Riakporhe has blitzed through the domestic scene, winning consecutive 50-50 fights against Sam Hyde, Tommy McCarthy, Chris Billam-Smith and Jack Massey.
But Durodola, his Nigerian opponent on Saturday, is a 44-fight veteran who has been in the ring with current world champions Makabu and Mairis Briedis.
"I can let my hands go if I want to," Riakporhe said.
"You will see an intelligent performance. Methodical, meticulous. I will break this guy down.
"If I don't get this guy's respect he will be on me. I will get his respect, trust. Mid-to-late, I will stop him.
"I understand what I need to do.
"These are the challenges we need to overcome. We have to deal with these types of opponents.
"He is a challenge, definitely. Every opponent is a challenge and I don't underestimate any.
"But we have goals. Whoever is in the ring, we will deal with them."
The unbeaten Dan Azeez and the veteran Hosea Burton had an intense stare-down ahead of their fight for the vacant British light-heavyweight belt.
The fiery Florian Marku got in his opponent Jorick Luisetto's face after they weighed in at the welterweight limit.
Natasha Jonas was in great shape ahead of her comeback and she bids to return to the world title scene.
The highly-touted Adam Azim was inside the lightweight limit for his fight with Stu Greener.
Hassan Azim, Adam's brother, will make his pro debut too.
Nick Campbell will be in a heavyweight fight, Mikael Lawal will return in cruiserweight action and Germaine Browne will fight at super-middleweight.
Sky Sports Boxing schedule
November 20 - BOXXER in London
Richard Riakporhe vs Olanrewaju Durodola
Natasha Jonas
Florian Marku vs Jorick Luisetto
Hosea Burton vs Dan Azeez - British light-heavyweight title
Mikael Lawal
November 20 - Top Rank in Las Vegas
Terence Crawford vs Shawn Porter - WBO welterweight title
December 11 - BOXXER in Cardiff
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Williams
Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin
December 11 - Top Rank in New York
Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Richard Commey
Jared Anderson vs Oleksandr Teslenko
Nico Ali Walsh
Xander Zayas
December 17 - Top Rank in Montreal
Artur Beterbiev vs Marcus Browne - IBF and WBC light-heavyweight titles
February 26 - Top Rank in Glasgow
Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall - undisputed super-lightweight title
