IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) retained his title with a fourth-round, two-knockout victory over David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach. in Queensland, Australia.
Under goes the world
The fight was close throughout the first three rounds, with the 6’6″ Nyika neutralizing Opetaia’s offense by grappling him with his massive size. In the fourth, Opetaia found room to land his power punches and dropped Nyika twice to get the knockout. The second knockdown left Nyika face down on the ground, badly injured.
“I expected him to box out. The first round was pretty intense. I didn’t expect him to come out so aggressive, and then after the first round I thought, ‘Here we go. He’s going to start boxing.’ He just kept coming forward, and that’s what happens,” Jai Opetaia told the mediatalking about his victory over David Nyika in Australia tonight.
Nyika had no choice but to stay on the inside, trying to tear Opetaia apart and suppress his power with grappling. When Opetaia had room to throw his long power shots from the outside, he dominated Nyika, who didn’t have the offense or defense to handle them. So, Nyika did the right thing by keeping the action close and not giving Opetaia room to gain leverage with his power shots.
Where Nyika got into trouble in the fourth round was when he gave Opetaia space to throw an uppercut, which hurt him, leading to several more power shots that put him on the canvas for the first takedown. Moments later, Opetaia finished off Nyika with a flurry of punches, ending with a vicious left hand to the head that dropped the challenger first to the canvas. Nyika was badly injured from the knockdown and stayed for a long time.
“I respect David. I hope he is alright. He is a great fighter. I don’t think people will give him the credit he deserves because of the way we just fought. We literally just kept hitting,” said Opetaia. “I don’t think he will get as much credit as he deserves.
“I want Zurdo!”
“The fight is done and dusted. I’m looking at what’s next. I’m now chasing unification battles. I am not worried about the last fight,” said Jai.
Opetaia next wants a unification bout against WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Whether that fight can happen will depend on the money. Zurdo and his promoters at Golden Boy will want it to be financially worthwhile before agreeing to a risky match against Opetaia.
I will say this: Opetaia took a lot of chops on the inside during the fight, many of which hit Nyika on the back of the head. The ref must have said something to Jai during the fight to get him to stop those rush shots because it seemed to take a lot of the fight out of Nyika. Boxing is weird. The referees are very big on stopping low blows, but do very little to warn and punish the much more dangerous rushes.
 retained his title with a fourth-round, two-knockdown victory over David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs) on){kind=link}