An amped-up Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, said tonight that IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will “pick up all the belts at cruiserweight” and then press on to fight Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight to become the undisputed champion.
Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) crushed challenger David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs), knocking him out in the fourth round tonight at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, in Queensland, Australia. Referee David Fields waived it off after Nyika was flattened by a left hand from Opetaia. That was the second knockdown in the fourth round.
Hearn’s Master Plan
“I believe David Nyika will be a world champion in the future, but not tonight. He came up with the best fighter, not just in Australia, but one of the best fighters in the world in Jai Opetaia,” said promoter Eddie Hearn inside the ring after Opetaia’s win.
“This is a guy [Jai] that should enter the pound-for-pound rankings. Huge future ahead. Jai is humble enough not to talk about the name of Oleksandr Usyk, but I’m not. That’s my job,” Hearn continued.
“Jai is going to pick up all the belts at cruiserweight to become undisputed, and then we want to push him into a fight against Oleksandr Usyk to try and become undisputed at heavyweight as well. I believe he’s the only one that can give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight, but to do it, we’ve got to pick up every belt in the cruiserweight division first,” said Hearn.
There’s still a lot of doubt about whether Opetaia will get as far as fighting Usyk for his titles at heavyweight. To get that far, Jai must beat WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), and he may lose that fight. If he’s victorious, he’d still need to defeat WBC champion Badou Jack, which won’t be easy.
Next Stop: Unification
Beating Zurdo will require some changes to Opetaia’s fighting style because this guy is smart, powerful, and an excellent fighter. As we saw tonight, Jai can’t fight a lick on the inside and is very, very average. Ramirez’s bread and butter is fighting on the inside, and his volume punching is the best in the cruiserweight division. Above all, he’s smart.
“I’ve been chasing these unification fights. I’m coming for my belts,” said Opetaia tonight when asked if he’d be interested in fighting a unification against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in ‘three to four months if His Excellency [Turki Al-Shiekh] can make the fights following his fourth-round knockout win over David Nyika.
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