Jai Opetaia’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, says he wants to start the unification fight with the WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez after Jai defends against his IBF mandatory Huseyin Cinkara on January 8 next year.
Matchroom boss Hearn claims Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) will “do a number” on ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), and when he does, he’s go cheer and rub it in the face of Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya to get the last laugh.
Should De La Hoya Ramirez risk or not risk?
De La Hoya did not say whether he would give the green light to Ramirez, 33, to take on Opetaia, as he has to because he may have other ideas for interesting matchups for the popular Mexican star. Why limit himself by facing Opetaia, who has a Shakur Stevenson style?
Hearn seems to be in a rush to make the Opetaia-Ramirez fight, and he would only be if he was absolutely 100% sure that Opetaia was going to win. The British promoter did not take the same approach to matching his fighter Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis with Vergil Ortiz Jr., who promotes De La Hoya.
So, if you’re Oscar, don’t give Hearn what he wants by making the match between Zurdo and Opetaia unless he’s willing to do the same with Boots fighting Vergil.
“In terms of Zurdo (Ramirez) against Jai (Opetaia), absolutely! Jai has a mandatory we have to take care of in (Huseyin) Cinkara. It could come as early as January (8th) in 2025, and then we just want associations for Jai,” said Eddie Hearn. Matchroom Boxingg. Billiam-Smith, he made the right decision to take the easier fight against Zurdo. No disrespect, but you’ll see a big, big, skilled heavyweight in Opetaia do a number in Zurdo, and that’s music to my ears because we want to make these fights with Oscar De La Hoya.
“It’s all very well to show off a record when you’re not in competitive fights. Put Zurdo in with Opetaia. Put Zepeda in with Shakur. Put Barboza with Catterall. The list is endless and we win all those battles with Golden Boy. When we do that, there’s nothing else to say, and when we do that, just look at the great Oscar De La Hoya and just go (clap-clap-clap-clap),” Hearn said.
Opetaia will defend against #1 Cinkara (22-0, 18 KOs) on January 8th at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. This should be an easy win for Ramirez as the 39-year-old Cinkara has never fought any significant opposition during his professional career.
“It’s nothing personal. I think he’s actually quite amusing. When the ‘Clap Back’ first started, I thought it was so cringeworthy,” Hearn said of De La Hoya.
“I think it’s good fun. With me and Oscar, there has always been a bit of a needle between me and him. This is what you want in the buildup. I don’t see us losing to Golden Boy at all. Not just lose the whole thing. Lose one. So, bring it on.”
The reason why Hearn can be so cavalier about De La Hoya’s Clap Back situation now is because he feels confident that Opetaia (29) will easily beat him. But if it was a situation where Oscar had the upper hand, you can bet Hearn would be annoyed with him, taunting him and pushing him to make the fight.
Jai’s weakness: he can’t handle pressure
Opetaia is not that good of a fighter, as we saw in his rematch with former IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis on May 18.
As Opetaia began to take damage from the hard punches of a motivated Briedis, he looked absolutely terrified and transformed into a larger version of Shakur. It was like watching a bully get exposed. This performance by Opetaia showed that he is not the brave fighter he betrays himself to be during his interviews.
Aussie Opetaia is coming off a successful defense of his IBF cruiserweight title against Jack Massey (22-3, 12 KOs) on October 12 in Riyadh. It was an easy win for Opetaia, who stopped the light-hitting Massey in the sixth round of a one-sided mismatch.
Opetaia vs. Massey Punch Statistics
– Jai Opetaia: 87 of 205 shots for a 42.4% connect rate
– Jack Massey: 41 of 143 shots for 28.7%
