Australia could have a new boxing world champion on its hands after an undefeated star was given a mandatory shot at the belt.
If you haven’t heard the name Jai Opetaia, you are about to.
The 26-year-old Australian cruiserweight star has cleared out the local ranks on his way to a 20-0 record with 16 knockouts and has earned a mandatory shot at the IBF world title early next year.
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Current titleholder Latvian Mairis Briedis is set to fight October 16 against 12th ranked contender German Artur Mann for the IBF cruiserweight title, but the IBF confirmed that Opetaia would fight the winner of the fight no later than April 14, 2022 and cannot chase a unification bout instead. The fight is expected to be in Jaunary or Feburary 2022.
It comes after Polish No. 2 contender Michal Cieslak couldn’t work out a deal after he was stuck in a battle between two promoters he had signed with.
It opened the door for Opetaia to get a crack at the title and ruin Briedis’ unification hopes. Briedis is currently the world’s number one ranked cruiserweight according to Boxrec and The Ring Magazine.
“I feel like my whole life has led up to this,” Opetaia said. “These big fights, I’ve done all the domestic, cleaned my backyard and with Covid, it’s slowed the process down fighting for a world title and getting these international fights but I feel like it’s about f***ing time. It’s something I’ve worked my a*** off for and it’s just around the corner now.
“Briedis and (WBO cruiserweight champion) Lawrence (Okolie) were looking to have a unification fight after my fight but I’m going to wreck his plans, go for the belt and I’m going to go for the unification. That’s the plan.”
Opetaia has a strong pedigree in Australian boxing, having gone undefeated in his professional career so far after representing Australia at the London 2012 Olympics as the nation’s youngest ever boxing representative at just 17, losing by a single point to eventual bronze medallist Teymur Mammadov of Azerbaijan in the round of 16.
But the fight also comes at a good time as Opetaia has been able to recover from a broken hand he suffered “six or seven years ago” which has plagued him throughout his career.
As a southpaw, Opetaia’s left hand is his power punching hand, and the hand which was broken.
He said it affected his training if it began to swell or stop sparring prematurely so as not to make the injury worse, although it didn’t stop him from pushing up the rankings to the No. 3 contender for the IBF title.
But after recovering from the surgery, Opetaia is ready to unless his left hand at full strength.
“I’m so happy with my hand and so excited to fight with a good hand,” he said. “I seriously can’t remember what it’s like to go into a fight not nervous about my hand. I’ve been feeling good and doing some damage in sparring so I’m looking forward to it.”
‘Most significant fight in Australia since Horn beat Pacquiao’
While the details have yet to be ironed out, Opetaia’s promoter Dean Lonergan is looking to get the fight in Australia.
Opetaia said it would be a “cherry on top” of fighting for a world title.
“Just bringing it to Australia is the icing on the cake,” he said. “Obviously anyone who fights for a world title wants it in front of their home crowd and to fight in front of their home people. Having my whole family and supporters from day one make the fight, that’s just the cherry on top. My focus is just going to be being 100 per cent ready for anywhere they put the fight.”
Lonergan told news.com.au: “We 100 per cent want to bring it to Australia. There is no doubt that you’ve got more chance at winning at home than away quite simply because the judges are influenced by the crowd.”
Lonergan, who promoted the Jeff Horn-Manny Pacquiao fight at Suncorp Stadium in 2017, said that his two title fights – Horn’s win and the 2016 fight between Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz – were both influenced by the crowd.
Lonergan maintains that Horn won the fight with Pacquiao despite widespread criticism at the time, saying the crowd helping to overcome the legendary status Pacquiao brought to the fight.
He also said that current titleholder Briedis is willing to travel for the fight.
“This could be the most significant fight in Australia since Jeff Horn beat Manny Pacquiao,” Lonergan said. “Boxing is hot right now. We’re not going to have 50,000 people at this fight but the significance if Jai can win it and go on, it’s one goal at a time and one step at a time.”
As for the future, Opetaia has long considered pushing up to the heavyweight division at some point in his career and Lonergan believes that Opetaia has the chance to follow in the footsteps of Evander Holyfield, David Haye and most recently Oleksandr Usyk to go from a cruiserweight world champion to heavyweight world champion.
The benefit of winning a cruiserweight means that a fighter who goes up a weight class goes in as the first or second contender position.
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