Jai Opetaia says his current goal is to become undisputed at cruiserweight but can’t help but think about a future fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
IBF cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia spent some time talking to Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV to discuss his career ambitions and what he’s looking forward to accomplishing going forward. Check out some excerpts of what Opetaia had to say below.
Opetaia on his current place in the boxing landscape
“We’re just getting started. I’ve just got here on the scene now, so we still got a lot of hard work ahead of us and I’m excited for it.”
Opetaia on his career goals
“Definitely undisputed cruiserweight champion. We got another three belts to collect so I’m excited to do that and we’ll look at moving up, whether it’s going to go to bridgerweight or go straight to heavyweight, we’ll see when that chapter comes. But right now I’m chasing the rest of the cruiserweight belts.”
On if he ultimately aspires to win a heavyweight title
“The ultimate goal, yeah, but my ultimate goal is just being able to sit back in a house and take care of my family, everyone’s comfortable, and they don’t have to stress anymore. That’s the ultimate goal.”
On if he ever thinks about potentially fighting Usyk one day
“I would love to fight Usyk, respectfully. I’ve always been so close to him. I was 16 I qualified for the Olympics, I competed at 17, little kid, and he won that Olympic games. Like I’ve always been there, it just wasn’t my time yet. But I feel like my time’s coming and one day I will be able to face him, but we’ll see what happens.”
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