{"id":875618,"date":"2026-04-06T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/875618\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T10:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T10:28:18","slug":"anthony-joshua-watches-on-as-viddal-riley-dominates-mateusz-masternak-to-take-step-closer-to-world-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/875618\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua watches on as Viddal Riley\u00a0dominates Mateusz Masternak\u00a0to take step closer to world title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Joshua watched on with pride from ringside as Viddal Riley outclassed Mateusz Masternak to scoop the European cruiserweight title.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Riley, who is managed by Anthony Joshua<\/a>‘s 258 Management, was a step ahead of Masternak in every department.<\/p>\n

\"Riley<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Riley dominated Masternak to snatch the European title away from the durable PoleCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The old Polish warhorse looked every one of his 38 years as he was methodically picked apart by the lightning-fast Brit.<\/p>\n

Besides a spirited effort down the homestretch from the durable Pole, Riley won every round and was handed a unanimous decision via scorecards of 118-110, 118-110, 119-109.<\/p>\n

In victory, Riley improves to 14-0 and takes one step closer to a world title.<\/p>\n

After the bout was announced, the IBF made the contest an eliminator for their now-vacant cruiserweight title.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BOXING <\/p>\n

Former champion Jai Opetaia was stripped of the red and gold strap<\/a> in March after competing in an unsanctioned fight with Brandon Glanton at Zuffa Boxing 4. <\/p>\n

While Glanton was ranked inside the IBF’s top 15 at 200lbs and would have therefore passed as a legitimate optional defence with the governing body’s blessing, the issue lay with the Zuffa belt.<\/p>\n

The IBF initially approved the fight on the promise that the Zuffa strap would be presented as “a trophy or token of recognition.”<\/p>\n

However, the sanctioning was withdrawn after the Zuffa belt was introduced as a “cruiserweight world title” at the pre-fight press conference.<\/p>\n

Heading into fight night, Riley was ranked No.7 at 200lbs by the IBF and Masternak was placed No.4.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Riley will be boosted into one of the vacant No.1 or No.2 spots and is expected to be ordered to face fellow Brit Chris Billam-Smith, who is\u00a0ranked No.3 right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Joshua<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Joshua watched on with pride as Riley dismantled Masternak<\/p>\n

Riley welcomed a fight with CBS as he spoke about his next steps in the immediate aftermath.<\/p>\n

“It feels good, man, European champion, it sounds good,” said Riley.<\/p>\n

“Talk to us nice. This says I\u2019m world-class. <\/p>\n

“The only people who beat Masternak are world-class.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how it goes. British, sometimes Commonwealth, then European, and you go to the next level. <\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll sit down with the team, I feel great, and I\u2019m ready for the next challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

Riley won his fight on the undercard<\/a> of Derek Chisora<\/a> vs Deontay Wilder<\/a> at the 02 Arena in London on Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua watched on with pride from ringside as Viddal Riley outclassed Mateusz Masternak to scoop the European…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,4496,28720,5062,226008,79,16,15,28655],"class_list":["post-875618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-deontay-wilder","tag-derek-chisora","tag-mateusz-masternak","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-viddal-riley"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116357294544012863","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}