Riakporhe beats Jumah with vicious knockout
Richard Riakporhe produced a stunning stoppage victory over British cruiserweight rival Deion Jumah at Wembley Arena on Saturday to maintain his unbeaten record.
Riakporhe scored a knockdown with a heavy right-hand in the fourth round, before seeing off a Jumah fightback to end the contest with a vicious body shot in the eighth.
The victory takes Riakporhe to 14-0 for his career, and keeps the Londoner on track for a world title show, while Jumah drops to 14-1 after his first professional defeat.
"I'm so happy we got the win," Riakporhe told Sky Sports. "Big respect to Deion Jumah, he was giving me a lot of problems in there and I had to be patient.
"I was mentally prepared for him to be awkward and slippery, but I just needed to be patient and wait for the opportunity."
A heated build-up to the contest had seen skilful southpaw Jumah warn his opponent that he had made a mistake in taking the fight, and there were concerning signs for Riakporhe as he struggled to land in the early stages.
The fight appeared to be going as Jumah had predicted until the closing stages of the fourth, when Riakporhe landed a massive right-hand to floor his rival. Jumah barely made the count, and was fortunate that little more than 10 seconds remained when the fight resumed, as he hung on to hear the bell.
However, anyone who assumed Jumah's resolve had been broken was swiftly proved wrong, as he landed a couple of spiteful shots of his own in the fifth and ended the round on the front foot.
There appeared to be genuine concern in Riakporhe's corner as trainer Angel Fernandez, who also coaches Anthony Joshua, warned him that he would lose the fight if he continued on the same path.
The sixth and seventh largely mirrored the early rounds,