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Jai Opetaia's wait to defend his IBF and The Ring world titles will stretch on after Richard Riakporhe became the latest opponent to pull out of a slated fight.
Jai Opetaia's long wait for his first cruiserweight world title defence will continue after Richard Riakporhe became the latest challenger to walk away from the table.
The Australian IBF and The Ring champion (22-0) was back at the drawing board on Wednesday after the unbeaten Brit (16-0) and mandatory challenger withdrew on the eve of the purse bid deadline.
It's the second time the Gold Coast-based fighter's had a mandatory challenger withdraw at the 11th hour after Pole Mateusz Masternak pulled the pin in identical circumstances in June.
Like Masternak, Riakporhe has opted to take a "different route" to a world title and in a statement released overnight took a swipe at Opetaia's management when he claimed he had twice accepted terms only to have the offers withdrawn.
Opetaia is co-promoted by UK giant Matchroom, who were bidding to bring his first defence to Australia.
"Richard Riakporhe had the opportunity to fight the IBF and Ring Magazine champion for a load of money via purse bid and someone has talked him out of going through with the purse bid in a few hours," Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn told iFL TV.
"The fact is, the team didn't have the money to make the bid and you're afraid to lose the purse bid again.
"The purse bids were this afternoon. Were you not prepared to wait two hours to find out how much Matchroom were willing to pay you?
"It's unbelievable. It makes me sick that fighters are losing out on these kinds of opportunities."
Opetaia hasn't fought since his stoic upset of Mairis Briedis last July, when he endured 10 rounds with a badly broken jaw to prevail in one of the fights of the year.
"Normally fighters dream of fighting for the world title, so to be given an opportunity and pull out makes no sense to me," Opetaia said.
Frustrated manager and co-promoter Mick Francis said Riakporhe's claims made no sense.
"That's news to me. If he accepted, then why were we going to purse bids in a couple of hours?," he said.
"It's clear to us that Jai Opetaia is the most avoided cruiserweight in the world."
