IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) says he wants a unification fight against WBA/WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez after beating challenger David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs) in the fourth round on Wednesday. a night in Australia.
Inside Game Concerns
Opetaia, 29, will have to put up a much better fight against Zurd Ramirez to defeat the unified champion. The lack Jai showed on the inside against Nyika would be exploited by Zurdo tonight, who is an outstanding close fighter. That’s the best part of his game. He would beat Opetai in an inside fight and overwhelm him with punches.
We saw tonight that Jai is a one-handed fighter, only able to land lefts with authority and has to be on the outside to generate power. He was average on the inside when Nyika forced him into that fight by closing space, grappling and striking. If this was Ramirez, Jai would be out of his league and probably knocked out.
According to Jake Donovan, Mick Francis, head of the Tasman Fighters, May 3rd is the potential date for a unification clash between Opetaia and Zurd Ramirez. Now, a wily party is trying to reach an agreement on the match. It won’t be easy.
Opetaia is a good fighter in the Bivol mold, but he doesn’t have any inside game and isn’t built for a fighter like Gilbert Ramirez, Oleksandr Usyk, or even Artur Beterbiev. He’s too one-dimensional and more of a potshot guy.
Nyika’s air combat tactics
“I want those struggles for unification. I want all those waist belts,” said Opetaia to the media at the post-fight press conference following his win over Nyika. “I pursue unification battles, but if they put someone else before me, I can’t help.
“I was in shock when I came out,” Opetaia said of Nyika’s aggression. “My old man told me, ‘He wants to have a dogfight.’ ‘If he wants to have a dogfight, let’s have a dogfight.'”
Nyika fought Opetaia on an equal footing, arguing and tearing him apart from the inside. His tactic of turning a fight into a brawl was very effective. Jai ended the fight in the fourth round when he went to the outside, hurt Nyika with a left hand and then buried him with combinations.
