{"id":3917,"date":"2022-12-21T07:30:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T07:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/richard-riakporhe-on-chris-billam-smith-rematch-plus-caroline-dubois-wants-step-up\/"},"modified":"2022-12-21T07:30:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T07:30:38","slug":"richard-riakporhe-on-chris-billam-smith-rematch-plus-caroline-dubois-wants-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/richard-riakporhe-on-chris-billam-smith-rematch-plus-caroline-dubois-wants-step-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Riakporhe on Chris Billam-Smith rematch plus Caroline Dubois wants ‘step up’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/span><\/span>
Chris Billam-Smith won all three of his fights in 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

London fighter Richard Riakporhe would welcome a rematch with Chris Billam-Smith in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The cruiserweights’ first fight in 2019 was a close contest, with Riakporhe winning on a split decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Riakporhe was ringside on Saturday as Billam-Smith, 32, ended the year with a <\/span>big knockout<\/span><\/a> against Armend Xhoxhaj.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It would be terrible for me to be turning down fights. I can beat him better next time,” 32-year-old Riakporhe told <\/span>5 Live Boxing.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Riakporhe has moved to 15-0 since beating Billam-Smith while his opponent improved his record to 17-1 by stopping Xhoxhaj in front of his home fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Billam-Smith said before the Xhoxhaj fight he had accepted a <\/span>proposal to face Riakporhe again,<\/span><\/a> but was told his rival did not want to fight him in Bournemouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We tried to make that fight for January, but it fell through,” Riakporhe said. <\/span><\/p>\n

“They probably want to do it big and everyone has their reasons.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Both men are now on the verge of world-title shots but Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom believes the domestic rematch is a “bigger fight” than a tilt at a global crown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shalom, who promotes both men, hopes to make the fight in 2023 but says a world-title shot at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium for Billam-Smith was the number one priority.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They’ve both come on leaps and bounds now and are bordering on world-title level in their own right, but I think a rematch is a bigger fight,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“However, Chris Billam-Smith does deserve a world-title opportunity and he’ll get what he wants – it’ll definitely be outdoors in Bournemouth next year.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Billam-Smith echoed his promoter’s words, saying: “We want that world title fight at Dean Court or Vitality Stadium now. That’s the dream for me.”<\/span><\/p>\n

‘I want to step up’<\/h3>\n
\"Caroline<\/span><\/span>
Caroline Dubois only made her pro debut in February<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Olympian Caroline Dubois closed out her year with another quick knockout, stopping Sofia Rodriguez inside a minute on the undercard in Bournemouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dubois, 21, has enjoyed a perfect start to her professional career with four stoppages in five fights since February.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lightweight is eager to move quickly towards elite level with unbeaten Katie Taylor of Ireland reigning as undisputed champion in the division.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I want to step up,” Dubois said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Next year I’m going to step up and have an eight-rounder against a good girl. We’ve already got the name lined up, she’s a good girl, been in with some very good people. <\/span><\/p>\n

“And I want to step up and see how I do against her. If I can stop her then that will tell me my power and my ability is real. <\/span><\/p>\n

“By the end of next year I want to be fighting for titles.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Watch<\/span><\/span>\"Watch<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Billam-Smith won all three of his fights in 2023 London fighter Richard Riakporhe would welcome a rematch with Chris Billam-Smith in 2023. The cruiserweights’ first fight in 2019 was a close contest, with Riakporhe winning on a split decision. Riakporhe was ringside on Saturday as Billam-Smith, 32, ended the year with a big knockout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3919,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions\/3919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}