Viddal Riley is aiming to knock out Nathan Quarless in his toughest test yet; he will fight for the English cruiserweight title on undercard of Caroline Dubois vs Magali Rodriguez fight on Saturday September 30, watch live on Sky Sports
Wednesday 27 September 2023 07:33, UK
Viddal Riley believes "it's about time" he is treated seriously as he looks to "finish" Nathan Quarless for the English cruiserweight title on Saturday.
The pair will go toe to toe on a huge night of boxing, headlined by Caroline Dubois and Magali Rodriguez's bout for the IBO lightweight title, live on Sky Sports.
"It's about time that people take me seriously", said Riley, who has won six of his nine professional fights through stoppage, including his last four. Quarless, by contrast, is undefeated but is yet to stop an opponent inside the distance.
Riley said: "A couple of knockouts do the job - we've got a little highlight reel building, and we're going to keep it building.
"I'm just tunnel vision, I'm so focused on just levelling up, on getting what I feel I should out of the sport.
"I've put 20 years into one sport - not that many people can say that - and I'm only 26 years old, so, for me, if you're going to put this amount of time in, you've got to give it your all and deliver."
Riley believes this is his toughest fight to date, and while he is wary of an upset, the professional boxer, YouTuber and rapper is looking to continue his run of knockout blows.
He said: "He's a 12-0 opponent, he's experienced as well with an amateur background, so he's been in the game for a long time.
"He wants to be English champion just as much as I do, and he's travelling down to cause an upset.
"We've had weeks to prepare, to see what he can bring to the table and create a plan for him.
"He thinks he knows what I bring and we're going to find out.
"He's a 90kg man and he's going to have gloves on that can hit me, so I have to treat him that way.
"The fact that he hasn't finished anybody, that's saying something, in 12 fights - especially when we finished our last four.
"Clearly, we've got a knack for doing it, and I think he's going to find that out.
"There's an art to it, and we study the art, we practice the art, and we're not hoping to take people out, we prepare, we train for it - Nathan has be trained for in the same way, and that's to be finished."
Despite his YouTube background, and interest from big internet names such as Jake Paul, Riley is determined to take the well-trodden, traditional path to the top of his sport.
Explaining this decision, the Londoner said: "It is because you check your own level. Every level I go to - I want to stay there and dominate it.
"I don't want to weasel my way through or get a bit of luck here or a bit of good opponent-picking there - I want to know that I'm at that level.
"So, winning the English title is a good starting point, and then we move to the British and we progress that way because I feel like a lot of the fighters - the throwback fighters - when they went to world level, they knew they were ready because they didn't skip any of the steps.
"The English title is just the beginning.
"I don't need it to be a level where people think 'yeah, he's good, now he's plateauing' - I'm not.
"It's a level that I'm using as a stepping stone, as a breakthrough to bigger and better things.
"So, I need to show that Nathan is a good opponent, but he's not Viddal Riley."
Watch Viddal Riley take on the unbeaten Nathan Quarless on the Caroline Dubois vs Magail Rodriguez undercard this Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
