Viddal Riley lifts the lid on how he balances two jobs as a YouTube star and a boxing champion
British and European heavyweight champion, Viddal Riley (14-0, 7 KOs), spoke exclusively to Ethan O’Connor from BBN all about his early journey, handling the fame as a social celebrity with over a million followers on YouTube, and how he is able to balance the demanding job alongside his successful pro boxing career.
Now aged 33, a young Riley started his boxing career at six-years-old when he was introduced to the sport by his father Derrick Riley, at West Ham Boxing Club. He went on to collect eight national championships, as well as winning a European Junior Silver medal in Russia. He also became a 2014 Youth Olympian for Team GB and eventually hung up his vest with an impressive amateur record of 41–8 (19 KOs).
It was when he entered the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, in preparation for KSI’s 2018 fight with Logan Paul, that he sparred against the American cruiserweight champion Andrew Tabiti and impressed Jeff Mayweather and Amer Abdallah so much that instantly signed him.
He began at the beginning, “It’s mad! A lot of the journey, I didn’t plan for, I didn’t think was gonna happen, I think the bits that I did plan for is what you’re seeing, you know, being the British champion, being the European champion, living the life to one day become a world champion.
“And then all the social stuff was all a surprise, you know like I didn’t plan for any of those things, so it’s crazy to see how life can take you on these paths, but you can still end up where you always said you wanted to be and I feel like that’s what I’m living right now.
“Ability-wise, I always knew I could do it if I put my mind to it, there just times where I thought maybe I’m not gonna put my mind to this, I’m gonna put my mind into something else, I’m going to see what else my life has to offer, because when you start boxing that young you don’t really get the chance to pick your own destiny, so I kind of went on this journey where I’m seeking out my own destiny.
“[I thought to myself] What can I create? And I think whilst I was on that journey, that’s when the whole social thing came in, and that became a thing, and I ended up coaching, all of that stuff. When I thought about it, I was like, ‘but what is my actual goal? What is my destiny?’ I’ve helped someone else [KSI] fulfil theirs, but what’s actually for me and that’s to knuckle down, get in the gym, take it serious and do what it takes to become the best in the world and I feel like that’s the progress I’ve made.”
Riley revealed how he is able to manage his demanding workload, “It’s a lot of hard work. You’ve got to have a good team, you’ve got to prioritise your time to make sure you get everything done because it makes such a difference to your fights, to the attention that you bring to fights what you do outside of the ring, of course you need to always keep perfecting your craft, keep adding to your game, but the world that we live in, the time that we are in, if I’m going to get the most out of perfecting my craft I have to prioritise the stuff that the majority care about which is the content.“It’s a responsibility that past fighters didn’t have to deal with, they didn’t have to take it into account and I feel like if you take that old school approach then you’re gonna be a great fighter, of course, but if you don’t learn to merge the two, then you’re not going to get the benefits from it. So, I’m just trying to get the most benefits from being good at what I do, and that requires me to maintain a team and the responsibility of remaining a social figure as much as a boxing champion.”
The undefeated cruiserweight recently signed with MisFits Pro after, “I think MF Pro is the embodiment of who I am. You know, it’s under the MisFits banner, but it’s still professional boxing, it’s still serious fighting, but it’s a division of accepting what’s new and the direction of what the world is going in, so a company like MF Pro, hence why I’m the flagship fighter is because I embody what that is – caring about social media, being able to make content, but having the ability to fight professionally and not only in a crossover role, so signing with MF Pro was perfect for me. If you are going to suggest any fighter to get signed to MF Pro when you’re in that ides, then I should come to mind.”
After winning English, British and European cruiserweight titles, the Hackney native gave a glimpse into his future plans, “I know I’ve earned the right and position to be in line for a world title. My last fight was an eliminator for the IBF [cruiserweight] title, which is currently vacant. The EBU title was affiliated with the WBC, so I think that [Mateusz] Masternak was ranked no.5 in the WBC before our fight, so I think that now I have become champion hopefully I’ve taken his ranking.
“So, I’m just right there, if someone calls me and says ‘we got it, we landed the world title fight’, then I’d be ready to take it. And if they say, ‘alright, listen, this is the plan…’, in boxing things always chop and change, then I’m ready for that as well.
“But I just know that I’ve reached that point now that a lot of people didn’t believe I could reach, which is one of the best fighters in the world. And if you’re talking about the cruiserweight division on a worldwide scale, I am now in the conversation, whereas I was in the conversation before to fight Jake Paul, Tommy Fury, now people are saying [Chris] Billam-Smith and these are the names I’d rather you talked my name about than talk about people that I know are not where I have been or done what I’ve done in the game, so to me it’s quite refreshing to hear genuine people that I consider rivals and competition than, based on my following, people suggesting these crazy fighters that make no sense.”
Riley is now ranked IBF #2 / WBC #11 / WBA #11 / WBO #15 / IBO #14
Follow Viddal on YouTube here: @VIDDALTHERILIST
DID YOU KNOW? Viddal Riley is cousins with Wretch 32, an award-winning No.1 artist from Tottenham, London. Wretch 32 had three top-five charting songs from his debut album Black and White, which amassed over a million record sales, including the single “Don’t Go” which peaked at number-one on the UK Singles Chart.
