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Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said tonight that IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will “take all the belts at cruiserweight” and then go on to fight Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight to become in 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 waved it off after Nyika was flattened by a left hand from Opetaia. This was the second loss in the fourth round.
Hearn’s master plan
“I think David Nyika will be world champion in the future, but not tonight. He had the best fighter, not only in Australia, but one of the best fighters in the world in Jai Opetaia,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. inside the ring after the victory of Obadiah.
“This is a guy (Jai) who should get into the pound-for-pound rankings. A huge future ahead of him. Jai is humble enough not to mention Oleksandr Usyk’s name, but I’m not. That’s the my job,” Hearn continued.
“Jai is going to take all the belts at cruiserweight to be undisputed, and then we want to push him to fight Oleksandr Usyk to try to be undisputed as well at heavyweight. I think he’s the only one who can give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight, but to do that, we have to take all the belts in the cruiserweight division first,” Hearn said.
There is still a lot of doubt as to whether Opetaia will go as far as fighting Usyk for his heavyweight titles. To get here, Jai needs to beat WBA and WBO Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez (47-1, 30 KOs), and he may lose this fight. If he emerges victorious, he would still have 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 it’s very, very average. Ramirez’s bread and butter is fighting inside, and his striking volume is the best in the cruiserweight division. Most of all, he’s smart.
“I’ve been chasing these unification fights. I’m coming for my belts,” Opetaia said tonight when asked if he’d be interested in a unification fight against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in three or four months if his excellency (Turki Al-Shiekh) can make the following decks. his fourth round knockout win over David Nyika.
