Following that, Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva will defend his British heavyweight title against former cruiserweight world title challenger Richard Riakporhe.<\/p>\n
Huni: Everyone knows my name nowHuni (R) faces a big challenge in taking on Frazer Clarke.\u00a0Richard Pelham\/Getty Images for Netflix<\/p>\n
Huni (12-1, 7 KOs) may have become the latest victim of a Wardley stoppage in his last fight, but the Australian’s stock rose as he produced a strong boxing performance.<\/p>\n
Huni was ahead on the judges scorecards and on course for a famous upset before Wardley caught him with a right hand.<\/p>\n
Now, the 27-year-old is back on the big stage and wants to prove his level once again.<\/p>\n
“Just to be in this environment with big fighters, big names, that’s what I want for myself,” Huni told reporters this week.<\/p>\n
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“That’s what I want for my career. You can have so many small fights in Australia and be not known. I had that one fight against Fabio and I came back over here and I feel like everyone knows my name now.”<\/p>\n
Huni says he only takes positives from the experience after being called up as a late replacement against Wardley, insisting he’s shown the level he can operate at and doesn’t intend to take a backwards step against Clarke.<\/p>\n
“I almost got through the whole fight and potentially could have won it,” Huni says.<\/p>\n
“And he’s now a world champion. I could have been in that position. So yeah, it’s just positive things. I think even Fabio … He said my name at one of his press conferences and he said [Huni] beats 90% of the heavyweights out there right now.<\/p>\n
“I’m just happy to be back over here fighting on a big stage again.”<\/p>\n
Riakporhe: “I’m what the heavyweight division needs”Riakporhe won by knockout at Tottenham in November.\u00a0Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Richard Riakporhe can profess to be the whole package. With just one defeat at cruiserweight to then-world champion Chris Billam-Smith, Riakporhe believes he’s now finally finding his feet at heavyweight. He’s also a male model on the side and has worked with Adidas and Burberry.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old can win the British heavyweight title with a win over Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva on Saturday and intends to use the opportunity to make his mark.<\/p>\n
“I feel like there’s something missing from the heavyweight division,” Riakporhe said this week. “It has to do with aesthetics. It has to do with characters, personalities. And I think people want to see more … I wouldn’t say smaller guys, but more athletic heavyweights.<\/p>\n
“They’re saying: ‘Yeah, this is a world champion, but you don’t see no abs.’ And the casual fans are looking thinking, this doesn’t even make no sense.<\/p>\n
“Now we got an adonis in myself that looks the part, and he can fight. This is what they need. They need me.”<\/p>\n
He may have the look, but Riakoprhe knows he has to deliver what fans want more than anything else: stylish wins and knockouts.<\/p>\n
“I can knock at anybody. I do possess there’s that type of power, man. It’s freakish. And I didn’t really understand it. People used to say, “Richard’s got a big shot. He’s got a big right hand.” I say, “Yeah.”<\/p>\n
“I’m watching back the highlight reels. I’m like: ‘That looks scary. That actually looks scary.’ And that’s why I always pray for my opponents.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov undercard boasts three intriguing fights with Conor Benn vs. Regis Prograis forming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-599950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}