IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia has a lot of proving to do in his next defense against David Nyika in 13 days on January 8th at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.
The fans enamored of the 29-year-old Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) jumped ship after watching his timid performance in his rematch with Mairis Briedis on May 18th earlier this year.
Blueprint For Victory
Many of the fans realized that they’d been wrong about Opetaia, believing he was pure gold after watching him steamroll obscure second-tier fighters. When Opetaia got in with the real thing, he looked yellow in his rematch against Briedis. You could see the fear in his eyes as Briedis were stalking him, and it was so disappointing.
Opetaia looked scared when they started taking hard shots from Briedis. He resembled Dmitry Bivol in how he was running around the ring, being chased by the 39-year-old.
It wasn’t a good picture. To make fans forget about that image, Opetaia must come to fight, stay in the pocket, and exchange power shots with the heavy-handed Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) on January 8th.
Nyika has a real chance of winning this fight if he follows Briedis’s blueprint and puts Opetaia under heavy, nonstop pressure. Opetaia does not like to get hit. He’s not the same guy when his opponents stand up to him.
Opetaia Familiar With Nyika
“To me, it’s another target. It’s the same thing we do every. We get up and train. Yeah, for sure. That’s what I’ve been chasing for. I’m chasing for the unification fights,” said Jai Opetaia to BoxNation when asked if he’s interested in fighting WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in a unification.
“I’ve got another mandatory to take care of [David Nyika]. This is a serious fight. David Nyika is from my neck of the woods. He’s had a massive amateur pedigree. I’m expecting 12 hard rounds. It’s exciting for the cruiserweight division. Yeah, we want to get this job done, and we want to chase those unification belts.
“I’ve shared the ring with him [Nyika] plenty of times. We’ve done a lot of sparring. He only lives an hour away from me. We’re locals in the area. We work together a lot. So, this was always going to happen,” said Opetaia about fighting a guy from the nearby territory to attract interest from Aussies and New Zealanders.
It’s important that Opetaia stays on the front foot, attacks, and does not retreat when under heavy fire from Nyika. To become a global star, Jai has to stand his ground this time and not back off when Niyka looks to engage. He seems to admire Bivol’s style of fighting, and that’s a poison style if the goal is to entertain.
This fight doesn’t appeal much to fans outside of Australia and New Zealand, who want to see Opetaia face WBA champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, Chris Billam-Smith, Leonardo Mosquea, and Cheavon Clarke.
The Briedis Shadow
There’s not much interest in seeing Opetaia fight guys like Nyika, Jack Massey, Ellis Zorro, and Jordan Thompson. I can’t say this enough: Opetaia did NOT look good in his rematch against 39-year-old Mairis Briedis on May 18th earlier this year. He fought timidly against Briedis, running around the ring after he started taking facial damage.
When fans saw Opetaia’s performance, they labeled him a hype job, and he’s done nothing since to prove them wrong. Opetaia doesn’t like getting hit and will go out of his way to avoid punishment when facing someone willing to stand up to him, as Briedis did.
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