The south west Londoner, widely considered one of the country’s best pure boxers, had been slowly but surely climbing towards a shot at a super middleweight world title and was expected to comfortably take care of his opponent from Birmingham that night.

But Woodall ripped up the script by stopping Richards, who had barely even been hurt over the course of his career, to secure probably the biggest upset in a British ring in 2024.

Until then, Richards was considered a fully paid-up member of the Who Needs Him? Club, but he thought such a defeat at domestic level might just tempt a few more would-be opponents into fighting him. He was wrong.

“Even after my loss people still don’t mention my name,” Richards tells The Ring. “You would think that once I lost, I got stopped, people would see me as an easy target.

“That’s usually how it works in boxing, right? But no one wants to fight me still. That just shows you how good I am.”

That Woodall defeat was the nadir of a difficult two-year spell for ‘Sniper the Boss’, who struggled for activity and then eventually suffered that first loss. In fact, since beating Mickey Ellison over eight rounds in November 2023, he has boxed only twice - against Woodall and then in a six-round comeback victory over journeyman Dylan Courtney in September, which was his first fight at light heavyweight.

Then, from out of nowhere, 33-year-old Richards was presented with an opportunity that would catapult him directly into the world title picture at his new weight. He was invited to Montreal, Canada to spar Imam Khataev as he prepared for the Russian's December clash with Adam Deines. Then, on his return, another email landed from Khataev’s Eye of The Tiger Management.

This time, however, the offer would not be for sparring but a genuine fight - and for an interim version of the world title against The Ring's No. 4 light heavyweight Albert Ramirez (22-0, 19 KOs). It was not the sort of offer the largely avoided Richards was used to receiving.

“I did my sparring out in Canada and when I came back my team got an email from Eye of the Tiger,” he said. “Talks obviously went well and we got a deal done late last year.

“When the fight was mentioned to me I said ‘why not?’ I know that when I’m at my best I beat anyone in the world and now I’ve got the opportunity to show that.

“When I was told about the offer I thought yeah, lovely, good fighter, quality operator, but I'm a quality operator too. This is a good opportunity for me to showcase my skills once again at the highest level.”

The pair will clash at Montreal Casino on February 5 in a fight that will have significant ramifications at the top of the 175-pound division. For Richards, it would represent an incredible turnaround from the night he lost to Woodall in Bolton.

“Absolutely,” Richards says. “If you look at what I achieved at super middleweight, British, Commonwealth, European champion, top 10 with Ring Magazine, then I move up to light heavyweight and nobody even mentions my name.

“I am completely ignored when they’re talking about big names or guys with credentials in a division. They’re not talking about me and in my eyes that’s crazy.

“It’s ludicrous really when you consider what I’ve achieved but I’m flattered. It gives me confidence because there’s a reason why you don’t mention my name. But I don’t care about all of that, I don’t care about the noise.

“I’m very old school in my approach and I’m never going to change. I’m going to keep being me, I’m going to fly to Canada with my small team and I’m going to become the interim champion of the world.

“And once I do that, nobody can ignore me or deny me anymore.”