Jai Opetaia believes he has returned to Australia as a fighter who has served his “apprenticeship” after over two years spent fighting on the road.
It was in July 2022 when the IBF cruiserweight champion first won his title and so impressively resisted a broken jaw to become only the second, after the great Oleksandr Usyk, to defeat Mairis Briedis.
If victory that night earned him the status as the world’s leading cruiserweight, it is in his four fights since then that he has proved himself the finest since Usyk, the world’s leading heavyweight, stepped up in weight in 2018.
In his first title defense, the 29-year-old stopped, in the UK, the then-undefeated Jordan Thompson in four rounds. In Saudi Arabia, he then stopped Ellis Zorro in one, won his rematch with Briedis, and as recently as October beat Jack Massey inside six.
As a consequence there has been increased interest in a unification fight first with Chris Billam-Smith, and in 2025 with Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. The impression exists that should Opetaia overcome David Nyika of New Zealand on Wednesday, the fight with Ramirez will be made away from his home country and likely in Saudi Arabia, where increasingly the most lucrative dates are made.
If it is tempting for observers to view Wednesday’s contest as a keep-busy fight and one intended to enhance Opetaia’s profile among his fellow Australians ahead of a higher-profile occasion, the champion – a resident of Queensland’s Gold Coast but one born in Sydney, New South Wales – is regardless driven by the prospect of showing his countrymen how much he has improved.
The first of his victories over Briedis remains the most significant and impressive of his career, but for all of the increased interest in him since then, Wednesday’s fight at the Gold Coast Convention Centre gives Opetaia, he believes, cause to showcase himself in more ways than one.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said at Monday’s press conference in Surfer’s Paradise. “We’ve done a lot of international travel; a lot of international fights, so we’re not new to these big stages anymore. I’m meant to be here. We’ve done our apprenticeship – this is all due to the labor. We’ve built this division on my back. It’s good. I’m ready. I’m sick of these interviews – I just want to fight.
“I believe all of my last opponents – I’ve sat down and had face-to-faces and stuff with them, and they’ve all had that fire in their eyes. They’ve all believed that this is their time to become a world champion. Just like I believe this is another stepping stone to my journey of greatness; to becoming the undisputed [champion]. But without getting the job done on the eighth, it all means nothing. So I must win.
“This is his chance to become a world champion. This is what us boys strive for our whole lives, our whole careers. I know he’s willing to dig deep because this is what we’re made for. We’re made for these opportunities. But I’m ready for it. I’ve been in his shoes – I know where he’s coming from – and I’ve still got that hunger. So wherever this goes, let’s go there.
“However I win it, I win it. If the knockout comes, it comes. I know I can hurt him. We’re chasing a smart fight. We do our job. I just know I can beat him. We fight smart. We play the game.”
Nyika replaced Germany’s Huseyin Cinkara as Opetaia’s challenger when in December injury ruled Cinkara out.
Opetaia’s promoters Tasman Fighters and Matchroom hadn’t expected him to agree to so significant a step up at such late notice, and had therefore offered the fight to America’s Brandon Glanton instead. When they were then informed of Nyika’s determination to challenge Opetaia, they then immediately saw the appeal of a world-title fight between an Australian and a New Zealander – theirs is an extension of what in the Gold Coast is recognized as one of the biggest sporting rivalries of all.
The undefeated 29-year-old Nyika won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 and has stopped nine of his 10 opponents. He also has a size advantage over an opponent considered destined for heavyweight, and he said: “I believe in myself. I’ve got just as much heart, just as much grit as Jai. Jai, obviously, has the experience that I don’t possess, and I’m going to prove to everybody in 48 hours the capability I have and the ability to become the new cruiserweight world champion.
“I think I can beat anybody. Put anybody in front of me – the best cruiserweights, the best heavyweights in the world. I can beat anybody, and I’ll show everybody that. I’ve prepared for this for the last 15 years. I didn’t aim any lower than the top, so this is just my opportunity, my chance to prove to the world exactly why I’m here.
“I’ve got just as much bottle as Jai – and he knows that. He knows that I come to fight. Whatever he wants to do, whatever transpires on the night, I’m here for it. This is gonna be an instant classic, I believe. Whatever he wants to bring – whatever I bring on the night; I’m not giving anything away – I believe we’re going to go through the gears. It’ll be a chess match; it’ll be a dog fight. But this is the fight to make today. Cinkara wasn’t going to pose a threat to Jai. I believe that I’m gonna do one better and become the next cruiserweight world champion.
“I never aimed for any lower. I truly believe that Jai is the guy to beat. I believe that he possesses all the skill in the world, but he has everything that I want right now, and all I need to do is prove to everybody that I’m capable of the same and more.”
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