Boosted Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has said tonight that IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will “pick up all the cruiserweight belts” and then fight heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk to become the undisputed champion.
Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) defeated 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 waved it off after Nyika was flattened by a left hand from Opetaia. It was the second knockdown in the fourth round.
Hearn’s master plan
“I believe that David Nyika will be world champion in the future, but not tonight. He came up with the best fighter, not only in Australia, but one of the best fighters in the world in Jai Opetaija,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. inside the ring after Opetaja’s victory.
“This is the guy [Jai] who should enter the pound-for-pound rankings. A huge future ahead of us. Jai is modest enough not to mention Oleksandr Usyk’s name, but I am not. That’s my job,” Hearn continued.
“Jai will pick up all the belts at cruiserweight to become undisputed, and then we want to push him to fight Oleksandr Usyk to try to become undisputed at heavyweight as well. I believe he is the only one who can give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight, but to do that we have to pick up every cruiserweight belt first,” said Hearn.
There are still big doubts about whether Opetaia will make it to fight Usyk for his heavyweight titles. To get that far, Jai needs to defeat WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilbert ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), and he could lose that fight. If he wins, he would still need to defeat WBC champion Badou Jack, which will not be easy.
Next stop: Unification
Defeating Zurda will require some changes to Opetaia’s fighting style as this guy is smart, powerful and an excellent fighter. As we saw tonight, Jai can’t fight the licks inside and is very, very average. Ramirez’s bread and butter is inside fighting, and his volume is the best in the cruiserweight division. Above all, he is smart.
“I fought those battles for unification. I’m coming for my belts,” Opetaia said tonight when asked if he would be interested in a unification fight against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in ‘three to four months if His Excellency [Turki Al-Shiekh] can handle fights after his fourth-round knockout win over David Nyika.
