Britain’s top two cruiserweight boxers Lawrence Okolie and Richard Riakporhe nearly came to blows at the Creed III premiere in London. Chaos ensued as both men lunged and grabbed at each other while onlookers attempted to intervene.
It is unclear why the altercation kicked off, however the pair previously traded verbal jabs during a Sky Sports News segment three weeks ago and have been touted to face each other for quite some time. Riakporhe called out Okolie following his recent victory over Krzysztof Głowacki but received a muted response from his rival who told him to ‘make him believe he wants to fight him’ by calling him out ‘properly’.
But there was no muted response when they met at last night’s Leicester Square event with security and attendants having to hold them both back as they tussled at the Cineworld cinema. Okolie is the current WBO cruiserweight champion and has held the belt since 2021 when he defeated the aforementioned Glowacki.
He is now scheduled to face his mandatory challenger David Light of New Zealand on March 25 in Manchester.
It is thought that Okolie was speaking about Hearn – who retorted during an iFL TV interview, saying: “The last thing we ever wanna do is go to court with a fighter, but I will never let someone take the p*** out of the loyalty and job we’ve delivered for them.”
Okolie was understood to have one more fight on his Matchroom Boxing deal but has since signed with their rival promoters for the Light fight.
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