Richard Riakporhe continued to add to his reputation as a power puncher as he unleashed a brutal left hook to the body to stop Fabio Turchi in the second round of their IBF cruiserweight eliminator at Wembley.

The unbeaten Riakporhe has been busy since signing with BOXXER, fighting four times in eight months after nearly two years out of the ring.

There can be no doubt of Riakporhe’s ability to take opponents out with a single shot. For nearly two rounds, almost nothing happened in this fight, until Riakporhe saw an opening and cleaned Turchi out.

“I feel like I need to do some pads, because I didn’t have the time to get into it,” Riakporhe said. “I’m building up a reputation – I’m the new body snatcher.

“There are a few spots I was looking for, but you have to be intelligent. We had a simple plan, keep it long, looking for the opening and when you see it, punish.

“I am going back to the gym on Monday, I am going to be back in September, we are taking over. I’ve had enough, I want to fight all the champions. There isn’t one I don’t think I can’t knock out, I’ve got power in both my hands.”

Turchi’s only defeat had come against to Tommy McCarthy in 2019, the same year that Riakporhe had stopped McCarthy in four rounds, but this was an impressive win.

Riakporhe seemed happy to concede ground in the first round, as he pawed out his jab, while Turchi bulled forward behind a high guard.

And the second continued at a pedestrian pace until Riakporhe opened up, finishing matter instantly, as a right-left to the body, the left taking all the breath from the Italian’s body as Turchi crumbled to the floor.

In obvious pain, there seemed no way that Turchi would beat referee Steve Gray’s count, but somehow he did, just. But as Gray looked to wave it on, Turchi’s cornerman came into the ring, waving a towel, to ensure his man would not take another punch. As the fight was stopped, Turchi collapsed again to the floor.

“This guy is the biggest puncher I have ever seen,” Ben Shalom, BOXXER’S promoter, said. “What we have is a superstar we want to see him develop in the right way and step it up a gear. I think he could fight for a world title this year.

“Richard Riakporhe will be a world champion, whether it is the next fight or the one after.”

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.