British cruiserweight champion Isaac Chamberlain has thrown down the gauntlet to Viddal Riley.
Riley, the English titlist, has publicly called for a shot at Chamberlain. On Sunday he fought the last man to box Chamberlain, Mikael Lawal, winning a points decision at the O2 Arena.
Chamberlain condemned Riley for that performance. “You’re just running and peppering, trying to pepper and using some fake double jab to get away. Bro, at least just plant your feet once and lamp him,” he told Sky Sports.
“This is professional boxing, this is not the amateurs. You can’t just be doing some dancing thing and thinking people are going to enjoy that.”
Chamberlain compared that with his own showing against Lawal, when he won by unanimous decision at York Hall.
“I literally tried to negate everything. I shut him down up close, I pushed him back,” Chamberlain said.
“[Riley] was just running and going backwards, backwards the whole time. Me, I was forcing it on Lawal, pushing the pace, pushing the pace, feinting all of that.
“He thought he could do that but he probably couldn’t.”
Chamberlain had a warning for Riley too.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Chaos broke out at the O2 Arena after Viddal Riley retained the English cruiserweight title with victory over Mikael Lawal as he clashed with Isaac Chamberlain before Chev Clarke tried to force his way in to the conversation
“If he fights me like that, I’ll break him,” Chamberlain said.
“That’s what you’ve been calling for. It’s a big fight, big hype,” he continued.
“Let’s go now. You’ve had your little comparison, which failed, miserably. Let’s go. Let’s go now. That’s it.”
He’s not necessarily convinced that fight will happen next.
“It makes me wonder, you lot are flaky, you lot are weird,” Chamberlain said.
“I can always go and fight Chev Clarke [his mandatory]. They haven’t sent an offer yet. They’ll probably send it one day before the purse bids or something. The [European champion, Michal] Cieslak option is already there.”
