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An amped-up Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, stated tonight that IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will “pick up all the belts at cruiserweight” after which press on to struggle Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight to turn into the undisputed champion.
Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) crushed challenger David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs), knocking him out within the fourth spherical tonight on the Gold Coast Conference Centre, Broadbeach, in Queensland, Australia. Referee David Fields waived it off after Nyika was flattened by a left hand from Opetaia. That was the second knockdown within the fourth spherical.
Hearn’s Grasp Plan
“I believe David Nyika will be a world champion in the future, but not tonight. He came up with the best fighter, not just in Australia, but one of the best fighters in the world in Jai Opetaia,” stated promoter Eddie Hearn contained in the ring after Opetaia’s win.
“This is a guy [Jai] that should enter the pound-for-pound rankings. Huge future ahead. Jai is humble enough not to talk about the name of Oleksandr Usyk, but I’m not. That’s my job,” Hearn continued.
“Jai is going to pick up all the belts at cruiserweight to become undisputed, and then we want to push him into a fight against Oleksandr Usyk to try and become undisputed at heavyweight as well. I believe he’s the only one that can give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight, but to do it, we’ve got to pick up every belt in the cruiserweight division first,” stated Hearn.
There’s nonetheless quite a lot of doubt about whether or not Opetaia will get so far as combating Usyk for his titles at heavyweight. To get that far, Jai should beat WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), and he might lose that struggle. If he’s victorious, he’d nonetheless have to defeat WBC champion Badou Jack, which received’t be straightforward.
Subsequent Cease: Unification
Beating Zurdo would require some adjustments to Opetaia’s combating type as a result of this man is sensible, highly effective, and a very good fighter. As we noticed tonight, Jai can’t struggle a lick on the within and may be very, very common. Ramirez’s bread and butter is combating on the within, and his quantity punching is one of the best within the cruiserweight division. Above all, he’s sensible.
“I’ve been chasing these unification fights. I’m coming for my belts,” stated Opetaia tonight when requested if he’d be concerned about combating a unification towards Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in ‘three to 4 months if His Excellency [Turki Al-Shiekh] could make the fights following his fourth-round knockout win over David Nyika.
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Publish date : 2025-01-08 20:02:19
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