On Tuesday, it was revealed that undefeated cruiserweight contender Richard Riakporhe had extended his promotional agreement with Boxxer and Sky Sports.
According to Boxxer CEO Ben Shalom, the undefeated boxer is now in line for some big opportunities.
One of them, is a potential world title showdown against WBA world champion Arsen Goulamirian.
And, Riakporhe is also in the mix to face the winner of the upcoming WBO world title clash between Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith.
Goulamirian (27-0, 18 KOs) is highly regarded and saw action back in November, when he defeated the dangerous Alexey Egorov by unanimous decision.
“I think we’re close to a deal now, it’s just going to be a decision as to whether we want the winner of May 27 [between Okolie and Billam-Smith] or go straight into the Goulamirian fight,” Shalom told Sky Sports.
“That will be something where we sit down with Richard and make a decision. That’s the beauty of being in a position like Richard’s, he’s got options but it will be a world title and he deserves it. He feels it doesn’t matter who it is, he’ll be knocking them out.”
According to Shalom, Goulamirian has no problem with coming over to UK soil to make the fight happen.
“[Riakporhe is] a money fight 100 pe cent,” added Shalom. “I think nobody wants to fight him, but given the fact he’s a star now and given the fact he’s headlining shows he’s one of the biggest fights in the division for anybody.
“He’s the biggest name now outside of the world champions, the one people are looking at and people are now getting the belief he can beat anybody, whether that’s Okolie or Goulamirian. He’s earned the position. One way or another he gets his world title shot this year. He’s a name that’s going to be in super fights in the division for the next 12 months.”