There had existed fears, when Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara was made for the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia, on January 8, that it would struggle to attract the attention those involved had hoped.
It is the Australian summer, which means so many nationals prioritising travelling with their families during the school holidays – including to venues like the Gold Coast and the nearby Surfers Paradise and Brisbane. It is also a time when overseas tourists fly to Australia for what would represent, for them, winter sunshine – and January 8 is three days before Brisbane hosts the Magic Millions, one of the most significant events in the Australian horse racing calendar.
In an attempt to promote Magic Millions, free-to-attend, non-competitive “races” – Zara Phillips of the British royal family is among the jockeys – are taking place on one of the beaches at Surfers Paradise on Tuesday morning, just hours before the ceremonial weigh-in for Wednesday’s cruiserweight world title fight at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
Others have gathered to attend the sales of the finest breeders and trainers from Sydney and Melbourne, and they are prepared to spend millions of dollars on the horses considered among the finest in the world. Racing, ultimately – after mining and hospitality – is the third biggest industry Australia has.
Which perhaps makes the considerable interest in Wednesday’s IBF title fight between the champion Opetaia and David Nyika of New Zealand – Nyika replaced the less appealing Cinkara when injury ruled Cinkara out in December – a particularly valuable insight into Opetaia’s status in his home country at the time of his first fight here since July 2022.
Victory that night meant Opetaia succeeding Mairis Briedis as the world’s leading cruiserweight, and four further victories since then mean that his reputation has continued to grow.
The political landscape surrounding boxing and broadcasting in Australia means that fights involving Tim Tszyu, who has the support of the Fox Sports network, receive the most coverage. Opetaia’s broadcaster, the streaming service DAZN, also has the challenge of attempting to resist the slower WiFi services that exist in this corner of the world.
Opetaia-Nyika, however – no doubt helped by the rivalry that exists between Australia and New Zealand, and Nyika’s ability to speak English – sold out ahead of schedule, contributing to the 4,800 capacity (3,800 general attendance and 1,000 corporate) being extended and a further 250 tickets going on sale on Monday, with all 250 being expected to sell.
Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn arrived in the Gold Coast on Sunday evening. Matchroom and Australian promoters Tasman Fighters have a stake in Opetaia, the heavyweight Justis Huni and Teremoana Jnr – both of whom will feature on the undercard – and Conor Wallace
Hearn had flown from Miami via San Francisco and will fly back to London on Thursday. He also confirmed to BoxingScene that he at no point fought off any armed robbers in Miami – a social media account posted that he had – and that the entirely fabricated story had spread at such a speed that even his personal assistant had been in contact to ask if he was OK.
Public events staged to promote fights can also often prove an accurate gauge of the extent to which the relevant fight appeals to the public. On Saturday, a Q&A took place in Surfers Paradise and was well attended by both the public and media. On Sunday, an open training session at nearby Broadbeach proved similarly popular.
Sportspick, an organisation that works to take fights into public venues across Australia, anticipates Opetaia-Nyika being broadcast in over 200 different locations. By way of comparison, the fight between Opetaia’s fellow Australian Liam Paro and Richardson Hitchins, held in Puerto Rico in December, was shown in a similar number of locations; Huni’s victory in December in Brisbane over Leandro Daniel Robutti was shown in little over 100; a Tszyu fight will typically end up in over 800 locations; and a UFC promotion 1,000.
Boxing, clearly, remains far from Australia’s most popular sport, and yet in what perhaps represents a difficult climate, what has been billed as “The Return of the Champion” is on course to succeed.
That Opetaia is considered destined for heavyweight makes increased interest in Huni and Teremoana Jnr inevitable. Of the two, there is little question that it is Teremoana Jnr, the Olympian, who is the subject of wider interest, and yet, potentially tellingly, it was Huni who sat at the top table of the press conference hosted on Monday to promote the main event, and Teremoana Jnr who featured in the earlier press conference promoting the 10-fight undercard.
“I expected to have to do a big push [of remaining tickets] the last week,” Tasman Fighters’ Mick Francis told BoxingScene. “This time of year, a lot of people are still away, and the Gold Coast is expensive this time of the year. The Magic Millions is on this week. The logistics of accommodation – it’s hard and expensive for boxing fans to get here. Australia’s so large.
“It’s his homecoming. I’m proud we’ve sold out. There’s a massive appetite for boxing in this part of the world, and Jai’s one of the best fighters ever to come out of Australia. I’d love to have Jai fighting in Australia on a regular basis.
“You had a fighter in the No. 1 position [Cinkara, with the IBF] – I don’t know how he got there. He can’t speak a word of English; he’s 40 years old [he turns 40 on January 13]; he’s fought nobody. Daffy Duck would have drawn a bigger crowd. David Nyika’s a young man; he’s in his prime; he’s had a massive amateur career; he speaks English. We’re blessed with this fight.
“I don’t think there’s any stronger rivalry, between any brother and sister country, than Australia and New Zealand. They’re our cousins; we love ’em; we hate ’em; we fight. When it comes to sport we are passionate, and we support our own. This is the biggest boxing event, an Aussie against a Kiwi, ever. Jai’s at the top of his game.”
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