Viddal Riley


Viddal Ethan Danso Riley is an English professional boxer, rapper, and internet personality. At regional level, he has held the British cruiserweight title since April 2025. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2013 European Junior Championships.

Early life

Viddal Riley was born on 7 July 1997 in Hackney, London, but raised in Tottenham, London. He attended Northumberland Park Community School in the Northumberland Park area of Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey, England.
While he was still an amateur boxer, Riley had a day job as a personal trainer at a GymBox gym in Stratford, London. It was here that he first met and trained several YouTube personalities, including KSI. The two fights between KSI and Logan Paul brought Riley huge publicity and exposure.

Amateur career

Riley started his boxing career at six years old when he was introduced to the sport by his father Derrick Riley. As a young amateur, he trained at West Ham Boxing Club. He went on to collect eight national championships, as well as winning a European Junior Silver Medal in Anapa, Russia. He also became a 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympian for Team GB. Riley amassed an amateur record of 41–8.

Professional career

Early career

Riley first entered the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas in 2018 in preparation for KSI's second amateur fight with Logan Paul. There, he sparred the American NABF cruiserweight champion at the time, Andrew Tabiti. In doing so, he impressed Jeff Mayweather and Amer Abdallah, with whom he subsequently signed a deal to turn professional.
Riley made his professional debut on 30 November 2018 at the Big Punch Arena in Tijuana, Mexico against Julio Manuel Gonzalez, beating Gonzalez by knockout in the first round. He recorded another first-round knockout in his next fight, against Mitchell Spangler at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 19 January 2019, on the undercard of the WBA welterweight championship bout between Manny Pacquiao and Adrien Broner. Riley's third fight was a unanimous decision victory against Austine Nnamdi in Dubai on 3 May 2019, in which he headlined as the main event.
In November 2019, fellow countryman Lawrence Okolie, who would later become WBO world cruiserweight champion, praised Riley, stating that Riley "is in the top 5 I've sparred".
Riley would next face Muhammad Abdullah in Las Vegas on 28 February 2020, achieving another unanimous decision victory to improve to 4–0.
He had been scheduled to fight on the undercard of the WBA lightweight title fight between Gervonta Davis and Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2019, in addition to fighting Rashad Coulter on the undercard of Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. in 2020, yet he was forced to pull out of both fights due to a recurring back injury.
In November 2021, Riley signed a multi-fight deal with the promotional company Boxxer.
It was announced that Riley would make a debut in the United Kingdom as an undercard match of Amir Khan vs Kell Brook on 19 February 2022. On 11 February 2022 on Twitter, Riley had announced his opponent as Namibian boxer Willbeforce Shihepo. Riley won the fight by unanimous decision to put his record at 5–0.
During his sixth professional bout on the undercard of Richard Riakporhe vs Fabio Turchi on 11 June, Riley produced a huge knockout victory over Jone Volau, fifty-one seconds into the first round.

English cruiserweight champion

Riley vs. Quarless

Riley defeated the previously unbeaten boxer Nathan Quarless for the vacant English cruiserweight championship as the co-feature to Caroline Dubois vs. Magali Rodriguez on 30 September 2023 at the York Hall in London. Riley defeated Quarless via unanimous decision, winning all ten rounds on all three judges' scorecards. Riley called out newly crowned British cruiserweight champion Isaac Chamberlain after his victory over Mikael Lawal the same night in a post-fight interview.

Riley vs. Lawal

On 16 February 2024, it was announced that Riley will defend his English cruiserweight championship against former British cruiserweight champion Mikael Lawal on the undercard of Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke on 31 March at The O2 Arena in London. A few days later, after the fight announcement, Boxxer announced that Riley had signed a long-term promotional deal. During the build-up to the fight, Riley promised his fans to take a dangerous road to try to get a world title shot in the next few years. At the press conference, Riley claimed that he had faced bigger punchers and labelled Lawal as a bully. Riley defended his English cruiserweight title by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the fight 99–91 and the other judge scoring it 98–92. Lawal fractured three of Riley's ribs in the first round. During the post-match interview with Riley, current British cruiserweight champion Isaac Chamberlain criticized Riley's performance against Lawal, claiming "that performance was dead," with both arguing when the contract gets signed. Cheavon Clarke tried forcing himself into the conversation before all three were separated by security. A few days after the fight, Chamberlain continued to call Riley out, promising to "break him" if Riley produced another performance like he did against Lawal. The fight between Riley and Chamberlain was halted in progress after Chamberlain relinquished his title to fight Jack Massey for the European title, which left mandatory challenger Clarke knocking out Ellis Zorro to win the vacant British title.

Riley vs. Garber

In December 2024, it was announced that Riley will face Steve Eloundou Ntere in a non-title bout on the undercard of Natasha Jonas vs. Ivana Habazin on 14 December 2024 at the Exhibition Centre in Liverpool. However, Ntere withdrew from the fight and would be replaced by Dan Garber. This bout marked Riley's debut fight at heavyweight, meaning his English Cruiserweight title was not on the line. Riley defeated Garber via technical knockout in the second round.

Cancelled bout with Isaac Chamberlain

After defeating Garber, Riley once again faced off with Isaac Chamberlain and the two verbally agreed to fight in February 2025. It was later announced that Riley will defend his English cruiserweight title against Chamberlain on 1 February 2025 at the Wembley Arena in London. However on 20 January, it was announced that Chamberlain would be withdrawing from the fight due to injury.

British cruiserweight champion

Riley vs. Clarke

After the cancellation of Riley's bout against Isaac Chamberlain, it was confirmed that Riley would not be fighting a replacement on 1 February 2025. Instead, Riley would be fighting at a later date, due to a replacement "not aligning with the bigger goals ahead". On 23 January 2025, it was confirmed that Riley would be facing British and WBA Intercontinental cruiserweight champion Cheavon Clarke on the Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn undercard on 26 April 2025 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the British cruiserweight title. Riley went on to win the fight by unanimous decision and won the British cruiserweight title whilst retaining the English title. According to CompuBox, Riley landed 24% of 617 punches thrown in the bout compared to Clarke, who threw 545 punches and landed 19% of punches.
In August 2025, Riley posted an Instagram story hinting that he and Boxxer had parted ways after stating that it's 'free agent season.' Following the departure, Riley began negotiating with various other promotions, including Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing. On 6 December, Riley announced that he had signed a promotional deal with KSI's Misfits Boxing, under their MF Pro division. Riley explained in an interview with Sky Sports that the MF Pro events will be completely separate from the usual crossover events that Misfits produces, and that these shows will be traditional professional boxing.

Other ventures

Riley maintains a strong social media presence: he has a YouTube channel with over one million subscribers as of April 2021, and releases original music independently on online streaming services Spotify and Apple Music.
He is the founder and owner of RIL Athletics, his own clothing brand.

Personal life

Riley is a supporter of his local football club Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
13Win13–0Cheavon ClarkeUD1226 Apr 2025Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, EnglandWon British cruiserweight title
1212–0Dan GarberTKO2, 2:3514 Dec 2024Exhibition Centre, Liverpool, England
11Win11–0Mikael LawalUD1031 Mar 2024The O2 Arena, London, EnglandRetained English cruiserweight title
10Win10–0Nathan QuarlessUD1030 Sep 2023York Hall, London, EnglandWon vacant English cruiserweight title
9Win9–0Anees TajTKO4, 2:3116 Jun 2023York Hall, London, England
8Win8–0Anees TajTKO4, 11 Feb 2023The SSE Arena Wembley, London, England
7Win7–0Ross McGuiganTKO3, 2:2212 Nov 2022Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
6Win6–0Jone Volau1, 0:5111 Jun 2022The SSE Arena Wembley, London, England
5Win5–0Willbeforce Shihepo619 Feb 2022Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
4Win4–0Muhammad AbdullahUD428 Feb 2020Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall, Sunrise Manor, Nevada, US
3Win3–0Austine Nnamdi43 May 2019FIVE Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE
2Win2–0Mitchell SpanglerKO1, 0:3319 Jan 2019MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, US
1Win1–0Julio Manuel Gonzalez1, 1:1930 Nov 2018Big Punch Arena, Tijuana, Mexico

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2018KSI: Can't LoseHimselfDocumentary

YearTitleRoleNotes
2024UndisputedHimself