IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia has a lot to prove in his next defense against David Nyika in 13 days time on January 8 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.
The fans are in love with the 29-year-old Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) jumped ship after watching his timid performance in his rematch with Mairis Briedis on May 18 earlier this year.
Blueprint for victory
Many of the fans realized they were wrong about Opetaia, believing him to be pure gold after seeing him steamroll obscure second tier fighters. When Opetaia got down to business, he looked yellow in his rematch against Briedis. You could see the fear in his eyes as Briedis chased him, and it was so disappointing.
Opetaia looked scared as they started taking hard shots from Briedis. He looked like Dmitry Bivol in the way he ran around the ring and was chased by the 39-year-old.
It was not a good picture. To make fans forget about that image, Opetaia must come to fight on January 8th, stay in the pocket and trade power shots with the tough Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs).
Nyika has a real chance to win this fight if he follows Briedis’ blueprint and puts Opetaia under intense, non-stop pressure. Opetaia does not like to be hit. He’s not the same guy when his opponents stand up to him.
Opetaia must be strongly displayed
“For me it’s another target. It’s the same thing we all do. We get up and exercise. Yes, for sure. This is what I was chasing. I am rushing to the unification fights,” said Jai Opetaia BoxNation when asked if he was interested in fighting WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in a unification.
“I still have an obligation to take care of (David Nyika). This is a serious fight. David Nyika is out of my neck of the woods. He had a massive amateur pedigree. I expect 12 hard rounds. This is exciting for the cruiserweight division. Yes, we want to get this job done, and we want to race those unification belts.
“I have shared the ring with him (Nyika) a lot. We did a lot of sparring. He lives only an hour away from me. We are locals in the area. We work together a lot. So, it was always going to happen,” Opetaia said of battling a guy from the nearby area to attract interest from Aussies and 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, this time Jai has to stand his ground and not back down when Niyka wants to get involved. He seems to admire Bivol’s style of fighting, and it’s a poison style if the goal is to entertain.
This fight doesn’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 Briedis shadow
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 did NOT look good in his rematch against 39-year-old Mairis Briedis on May 18th earlier this year. He timidly fought Briedis and ran around the ring after starting to suffer facial damage.
When fans saw Opetaia’s performance, they labeled him a hype job, and he has done nothing to prove them wrong since. Opetaia does not like to be hit on and will go out of his way to avoid punishment when faced with someone willing to stand up to him, as Briedis did.
