Amplified Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said tonight that IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will “take all the cruiserweight belts” and then push to fight heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk to become the undisputed champion.
Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) crushed challenger David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs), knocking him out in the fourth round tonight at the Gold Coast Convention Center, Broadbeach, in Queensland, Australia. Referee David Fields waived after Nyika was flattened by a left hand from Opetaia. It was the second fall in the fourth round.
Hearn’s master plan
“I believe that David Nyika will be a world champion in the future, but not tonight. He came up with the best fighter, not only in Australia, but one of the best fighters in the world in Jai Opetaia,” said promoter Eddie Hearn . inside the ring after the victory of Obadiah.
“This is a guy (Jai) who needs to get into the pound-for-pound rankings. Huge future ahead. Jai is humble enough not to mention Oleksandr Usyk’s name, but I don’t. That’s my job,” he continued Hearn.
“Jai has to take all the cruiserweight belts to become undisputed, and then we want to push him into a fight against Oleksandr Usyk to try to become undisputed at heavyweight as well. I believe he is the only one who can give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight, but to do that, we have to take every belt in the cruiserweight division first,” said Hearn.
There is still a lot of doubt as to whether Opetaia will get to fight Usyk for his heavyweight titles. To get that far, Jai must beat WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), and he may lose that fight. If he is victorious, he still needs to defeat the WBC champion Badou Jack, which will not be easy.
Next Stop: Unification
Beating Zurdo will require some changes to Opetaia’s fighting style because this guy is smart, powerful and an excellent fighter. As we saw tonight, Jai can’t fight a lick inside and is very, very average. Ramirez’s bread and butter is fighting inside, and his volume punch is the best in the cruiserweight division. Above all, he is smart.
“I’ve been chasing these unification fights. I’m coming for my belts,” Opetaia said tonight when asked if he was interested in a unification fight against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in “three to four months if S. Excellency ( Turki Al-Shiekh) can make the following fights his fourth KO victory in the fourth round over David Nyika.
