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Riakporhe became studious (he now has a degree in marketing communications and advertising) and found boxing. After the gym, he was too tired to get into mischief.
"I went to uni and explained the norms of where I grew up. It was like a movie to other people!
"I analysed my life and wanted to do better, to achieve more.
"I was ambitious and knew there was more to life than being around the streets.
"If not for boxing? Who knows where I would have ended up.
"I lacked skill but my coaches told me: 'Just knock this guy out'. Once I imposed my will on my opponents they would dissolve. Not everybody has that kind of will. Where does it derive from? From where I grew up."
The Aylesbury Estate runs through Riakporhe's blood and, in the form of a stab wound, is forever imprinted on his chest.
"We found joy here, as crazy as that may sound," he says while looking around the area which forged him.
"I appreciate life more, having come from this."
Many of the greatest fighters ever grew up in socially deprived areas across the world and never lost the hunger to better themselves.
"Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler - these guys came from absolutely nothing," Riakporhe snared. "It made them grind and develop grit inside the ring.
"Being from this area made me the fighter I am today.
"I have nothing to lose because I came from nothing."