Viddal Riley Defends European Title at OVO Wembley Arena, Keeps World Title Hopes Alive
Viddal Riley gets one step closer to a world title opportunity after a comfortable win against Seydi Coupe in London on Saturday night.
Riley improved his record to 15-0 and successfully defended his EBU European title against the rangey Frenchman via a unanimous decision at the OVO Wembley Arena.
Rising Through the Ranks: Riley’s Championship Journey
Dominating in wins against the likes of Mikeal Lawal, Chev Clarke and especially Masternak in his most recent fight to win the European title, North-London based Riley has steadily climbed through the ranks and has won titles at every step of the way.
Now with a perfect record in his professional career, the smooth and technical operator featured in his first main event with MFPro by defending the European title against Coupe, who also had an established European pedigree after getting the EBU silver title last year.
Seydi Coupe’s Path and World-Class Preparation
This fight- the Frenchman’s big opportunity to level up to the world stage- saw the Roubaix born boxer come into the contest after he received world-class sparring with Dmitry Bivol.
After an impressive amateur record of his own, Coupe made his professional debut in 2022, and has had a string of impressive wins against the likes of Ervin Dzinic and Jiri Svacina.
Round-by-Round Breakdown of the Action
The fight started in a tentative fashion as both men tried to establish their jab, the second round livened up when both men became more active, Riley’s head movement and inside work started to pay dividends.
However Coupe landed a great right hand on the inside in the third round which momentarily troubled Riley, a sequence which gave Coupe a lot of confidence before Riley came back with his own venom in the fourth.
By the halfway point of the fight, Riley looked in firm control despite pockets of success from Coupe with the Englishman hitting a thunderous left hook which wobbled the chin of the Frenchman in the seventh round.
The fight livened up even more as both men began to commit to their offense in the later rounds, with Viddal getting the better in the exchanges especially with a sneaky straight right down the pipe.
By the eleventh round, Riley had thrown at least 100 more punches than Coupe and remained in complete control until the end of the fight where he cruised to a unanimous decision.
Looking Ahead: The IBF World Title Picture
With this win, Riley, by his own words has claimed to be the best cruiserweight boxer in Europe, and is demanding the IBF world title fight against David Nyika.
As for the Frenchman, despite short bursts of success in the fight, he was largely out-boxed and out-thought by Riley who landed the bigger shots across the fight.
However, the Tottenham-based boxer is firmly ranked second in the IBF governing body at cruiserweight and is therefore the number one challenger to the throne.
