Boxing fans received a late Christmas present earlier today, with Australian king Jai Opetaia retaining his cruiserweight titles thanks to a vicious fourth-round knockout.
After Opetaia left his opponent unconscious on the canvas, promoter Eddie Hearn joined fans in calling for a sensational undefeated vs undefeated showdown against Oleksandr Usyk.
Cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia scores ‘scary’ faceplant knockout
27 fights, 27 wins, with 21 knockouts; and at only 29 years old, we’re already running out of superlatives to describe Australia’s homegrown superstar, Jai Opetaia.
In what could have been a ‘banana peel’ matchup against a dangerous David Nyika, Opetaia would deliver one of his best performances to date on a rare Wednesday fight card down under.
Opetaia rocked the Kiwi in every round with brutal body shots and hooks around a sizable guard, and in the fourth round, delivered a thunderous right hand that dropped Nyika.
The referee could have stopped the fight then and there but chose to let the bout continue – Opetaia would make the most of that opportunity, knocking out Nyika cold just a few seconds later.
Nyika was left unconscious for several minutes, with boxing fans around the world now reacting to one of the most vicious KOs that we’ll see all year.
“That’s shocking from the ref he was out on his feet should never of let him take that punch,” wrote one fan, with another adding: “Wow, the ref should have stepped in before the last shot got through. Out cold.”
“Ref should have called it on the first knockdown, I think.”
“He was down a while ago, was a hard watch that.”
“What a destruction performance by Opetaia.”
Eddie Hearn targets Jai Opetaia vs Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight
With his cruiserweight championship status secured, Opetaia would call for a fight against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, who won the WBO cruiserweight title in a back-and-forth brawl against Chris Billam-Smith last November.
“I’m coming for the belt, we’re coming for the rest of the belts man, we’re coming for them.”
Whilst Opetaia vs Ramirez is a sensational fight that we can all look forward to later in 2025, Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn has a much, much bigger name in mind.
“You’re talking about a very, very special fighter in Jai Opetaia, it’s not just [about] the belts at cruiserweight, it’s the belts at heavyweight as well.
“Jai is going to pick up all the belts in the cruiserweight division to become undisputed and then we want to push him into a fight with Oleksandr Usyk to try and become undisputed at heavyweight as well.
“You have to search for greatness, and he’s good enough to do it… I believe that he’s the only person, cruiserweight or heavyweight, that can genuinely give Oleksandr Usyk a real, real fight – but to do it, we’ve got to pick up every belt in the cruiserweight division first.”
Jai Opetaia is one of the most exciting boxers out there and after another unbelievable KO in front of his home crowd, it’s onwards and upwards for the new face of Australian boxing.