Viddal Riley took away Seydi Coupe’s best chance of an upset by keeping him at the end of his jab. Riley won a unanimous decision Saturday, November 14, at OVO Arena Wembley in London, handing the French challenger his first defeat and retaining the European cruiserweight title in his first defense.

The judges scored it 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109 for Riley (15-0, 7 KOs) in the main event of the MF Pro card on DAZN. Coupe (14-1, 9 KOs) had his best moments early, when he could close the distance quickly enough to make Riley trade. Once Riley started controlling where those exchanges took place, Coupe spent too much of the fight trying to get close enough to land.

Coupe had won the French and EBU Silver titles and came in as the European mandatory challenger. He had stopped nine of his first 14 opponents, and he showed enough hand speed early to make Riley work. By the middle rounds, Riley was landing his jab more cleanly and using his feet to make Coupe start over. Coupe could still get through, but he rarely kept Riley in front of him long enough to build on a clean punch.

There was a lively exchange in the eighth, and Coupe kept pressing despite taking the cleaner shots. Riley hurt him at times and stuck with the jab and footwork that had put him ahead. Neither man went down. The two closer scorecards gave Coupe three or four rounds, but Riley’s command of the second half left little doubt about the winner.

Riley won the European belt from Mateusz Masternak in April and had already beaten Cheavon Clarke. He came into Saturday ranked No. 2 by the IBF, with a shot at its vacant world title delayed by legal issues involving former champion Jai Opetaia. Coupe gave Riley a brief look at what happens when a quick puncher gets inside. The next question is how well Riley can keep his jab working against a world-level cruiserweight who can get there more often.

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Boxing • Seydi Coupe • Viddal Riley Outboxes Seydi Coupe to Retain European Title