After two years away, Jai Opetaia returns to Australia to defend his IBF cruiserweight title against New Zealand’sDavid Nyika in a regional bout at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Broabeach, Queensland, on Wednesday, January 8.
Opetaia won the IBF cruiserweight belt in July 2022 by defeating Latvian Mairis Briedis and handing him the second defeat of his career, the first was with Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and after a long road away from home, he returns to perform in front of his fans.
“It’s been a long road. We’ve travelled a lot around the world, we’ve been in a lot of international fights, so we’re not new to these big stages anymore. I’m supposed to be here,” Opetaia said at the pre-fight press conference in Surfer’s Paradise on Monday.
Opetaia dreams of being undisputed cruiserweight champion
Opetaia highlighted the quality of the opponents he has faced in order to defend his belt, all with fire in their eyes at the thought that they were about to become world champions, but he has managed to overcome each of the challenges.
“We’ve done our learning, all this is down to the work. We’ve built this division on my back. It’s good. I’m ready. I’m sick of these interviews, I just want to fight,” Opetaia said, adding that he believes “this is another step in my journey to greatness; to become the undisputed champion. But without doing the work on the eighth, all that means nothing. So I must win.”
To become the undisputed champion, Opetaia knows he must fulfill Wednesday’s commitment and avoid an upset against the unbeaten Nyika, in order to unify first against Britain’s Chris Billam-Smith, then against Mexico’s Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, possibly in Saudi Arabia to seek a more lucrative purse.
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