IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia has a lot to show for in his next defense against David Nyika in 13 days time on January 8 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.
Fans love 29-year-old Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) jumped ship after seeing his shy performance in his rematch with Mairis Briedis on May 18 earlier this year.
Blueprint for victory
Many of the fans realized that they were wrong about Opetaia, believing that he was pure gold after seeing him steamroll dark fighters of the second level. When Opetaia came up with the real thing, he looked yellow in his revenge against Briedis. You could see the fear in his eyes as Briedis stalked him, and it was so disappointing.
Opetaia looked scared when they started taking hard blows from Briedis. He resembled Dmitry Bivol as he ran around the ring, pursued by the 39-year-old.
It was not a good picture. To make fans forget that image, Opetaia needs to come fight, stay in the pocket, and trade power shots with Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) on January 8th.
Nyika has a real chance to win this fight if he follows Briedis’ plan and puts Opetaia under heavy, non-stop pressure. Opetaia doesn’t like to get caught. He is not the same guy when his opponents meet him.
Opetaia Familiarity with Nyika
“For me, it’s another goal. It’s the same thing we all do. We get up and train. Yes, of course. That’s what I’ve been chasing. I’ve been chasing for unification struggles,” said Jai Opetaia to BoxNation when he was asked if he is interested in fighting WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in a unification.
“I’ve got another guy to take care of (David Nyika). This is a serious fight. David Nyika is from my neck of the woods. He’s got a massive amateur pedigree. I expect 12 tough rounds. It’s exciting for the cruiserweight division Yes, we want to do this work, and we want to pursue those unification belts.
“I shared the ring with him (Nyika) many times. We did a lot of sparring. He lives only an hour away from me. We are local to the area. We work together a lot. So this was always happening,” said Opetaia on to the fight with a guy from the neighboring territory to attract the interest of the Aussies and the New Zealanders.
It is 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 must stay grounded this time and not back down when Niyka tries to engage. He seems to admire Bivol’s fighting style, and this is a poison style if the goal is to have fun.
This fight won’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 shadow of Briedis
There isn’t much interest in seeing Opetaia fight guys like Nyika, Jack Massey, Ellis Zorro and Jordan Thompson. I can’t say it enough: Opetaia didn’t look good in his rematch against Mairis Briedis, 39, on May 18 earlier this year. He fought timidly against Briedis, running around the ring after starting to take damage to his face.
When fans saw Opetaia’s performance, they labeled it as a hype job, and he has done nothing since then to prove them wrong. Opetaia doesn’t like getting hit and will do whatever it takes to avoid punishment when facing someone who wants to stand up to him, like Briedis did.
