Jai Opetaia, the IBF cruiserweight champion, is unhappy that the other champions in the division aren’t eager to fight him in a unification match.
The 29-year-old Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) wants to become the undisputed champion but cannot work toward that goal without financial assistance from His Excellency Turki Alalshikh.
“I really struggle with the fact that fellow champions are not grabbing these chances with both hands,” said Jai Opetaia to Boxing News.
Instead of complaining, Opetaia needs to put some fire under his promoter, Eddie Hearn’s backside to come up with the dough to motivate the other champions to fight him. They will never agree to fight Opetaia unless Hearn offers them big cash.
“I’m comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re always chasing pain in the gym,” said Opetaia to iFL TV when asked if he’s ready for the deep waters against Jack Massey on Saturday night.
The other champions would all be underdogs against Opetaia with little chance of beating him right now because he’s at the top of his game. That’ll change eventually as he ages, but he’s in the zenith of his career right now. It doesn’t make sense for any champion to fight Opetaia without the money being in the mega-million range.
So, they won’t agree to fight him unless the money is life-changing for setting them up for life. Why would they want to fight Opetaia and lose their title if the money wasn’t massive? It doesn’t make sense.
It would be the same with Opetaia. If he were the underdog against someone he was expected to lose to, would he take the fight without the enormous money? No way. It’s the same situation Hearn fighter, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is confronted with at welterweight.
He wants to unify the division, but the champions have zero interest in fighting him unless they’re paid retirement-type money. Hearn hasn’t come up with the dollar signs that would essentially make them want to sell their titles.
Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) will defend his belt against #11 ranked IBF fringe contender Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KOs) this Saturday night, October 12th, in a 12-round contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. That fight has attracted very little interest from fans for obvious reasons. Massey isn’t highly ranked and was recently beaten in 2023.
“You’re always looking at that carrot at the end of the tunnel, and now he’s in the way of it. So, we must remove him from there and keep heading towards that carrot. Until then, he’s stopping us from getting there,” said Opetaia about him potentially getting the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight and the winner of the Chris Billiam Smith vs. Gilberto Ramirez unification clash.
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