Promoter Eddie Hearn wants unified WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to fight his fighter, IBF champion Jai Opetaia, next in a three-belt championship match.
Hearn NEEDS Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) and his promoters at Golden Boy agree to the unification because the IBF ordered Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) to defend against his next mandatory, Huseyin Cinkara ( 22-0, KOs) 18 KOs).
This fight will draw little interest on DAZN. Opetaia’s Aussie fans won’t mind defending against the 39-year-old Cinkara, but the rest of the world won’t be thrilled with the fight.
What De La Hoya Stand To Gain?
Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya probably won’t want to do Sent any favors by putting together a fight between his guy, Zurdo Ramirez, and Opetaia, because he would be the underdog in that match. De La Hoya and Golden Boy should stick their noses at Hearn and focus on continuing to match Ramirez against guys they know he can beat.
De La Hoya made a mistake once by letting Zurdo fight Hearn’s Dmitry Bivol fight in 2022, and was beaten for the first time in his career by a 12-round unanimous decision. Oscar probably didn’t want to help Hearn again by pairing Ramirez against Opetaia and watching him square off with the IBF champion.
If you’re De la Hoya, you want to keep putting Ramirez with fighters like Chris Billiam-Smith and Arsen Goulamirian to try and make him a star. I don’t think it’s possible at this point to turn the 33-year-old Ramirez into a star, but that doesn’t stop De La Hoya from continuing to try.
Ramirez is a good fighter, but he is easy to knock down, as we saw in his fight against Billiam-Smith. It would be a disaster for De La Hoya to match Opetaia, who can really punch.
“It’s the best fight in the division, and it’s a must-make fight. As good as Zurdo is, Opetaia is a different animal,” Hearn told @DAZNBoxing.
Cinkara vs Opetaia: A mandatory but less attractive fight
Cinkara stopped Armend Xhoxha in the second round on April 27 in an IBF eliminator to become the mandatory for Opetaia’s belt.
It’s not a big deal for Opetaia to face Cinkara next because most of the guys he’s beaten during his nine-year career in Australia have been little-known opponents.
The only known guy that Opetaia fought was Mairis Briedis, and he gave him all kinds of problems in his rematch. In that fight, Opetaia looked scared when he started taking punishment and fought a lot like a bigger version of Shakur Stevenson, moving around the ring, trying not to get hit.
