Craig Richards

Bio

Craig “Spider” Richards is a Crystal Palace light-heavyweight who has spent his whole career being underrated by everyone except the men who have had to share a ring with him. Twenty wins, thirteen of them inside the distance, four defeats and a draw — and the defeats are the interesting part, because of who they came against.

In May 2021 he challenged Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light-heavyweight title and lost a unanimous decision that was far closer than the scorecards made it look. Bivol went on to become the best 175lb fighter on the planet and beat Artur Beterbiev. Richards took him twelve hard rounds when almost nobody outside Britain rated him at all.

He is a boxer first. Long, rangy, comfortable behind the jab, good feet, and at his best when he is dictating range rather than trading. His worst nights have come when he has been drawn into exchanges he did not need — he has a tendency to try and win rounds spectacularly instead of simply winning them.

At 35 he is fighting Radivoje Kalajdzic at the Copper Box Arena on September 26 in the chief support to Johnny Fisher vs Michael Pirotton, and he has been blunt about what it means. “My story hasn’t been written yet,” he says. Win and he is back in the world title conversation. Lose and there is no third act.