In the Saturday night fight for the Cruiserweight defense fight between Richard Riakporhe and Chris Billam-Smith, it was Richard Riakporhe who won the fight and also retained his own WBA Intercontinental belt.
Richard Riakporhe won the fight by splits points’ decision after going through 10 close rounds to extend his career record to be at 10 straight wins. As for Billam-Smith, he was handed his first career’s defeat.
After both fighters had a tight and close opening round, the 2nd round saw Billam Smith work from behind his jab while Riakporhe went straight in with his wild hooks.
Both fighters equally traded punches in the 5th but no one could top each other out as it was a close round. The 6th saw Riakporhe blooding his opponent’s nose and then catching him with an uppercut during the 7th followed by a heavy left hook. These shots left Ballim-Smith dangling on ropes and to go through a standing count.
By the 8th round, ballim0-Smith was completely tired and was pummeled by Riakporhe as a punching bag who was hoping for a stoppage victory by unleashing heavy shots.
The 9th again saw Riakporhe landing in an uppercut to test his opponent’s chin strength followed by a huge right punch but Billam bravely held on till the end of the round.
The 10 round started with cheers of the crowd as Ballim-Smith started fighting on the front foot but none of the men were able to win the match by stoppage.
Ultimately, the Londoner won the fight by the scores of judges; 97-92, 95-94, 93-96.
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