Boxing fans received a belated 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 the fans in calling for a sensational undefeated versus undefeated showdown against Oleksandr Usyk.
Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia scores 'scary' faceplant knockout
27 fights, 27 wins, with 21 knockouts; and at just 29 years old, we're already running out of superlatives to describe Australia's superstar, Jai Opetaia.
In what could have been a 'banana peel' match against a dangerous David Nyika, Opetaia would deliver one of his best performances yet on a rare Wednesday fight card 'down under'.
Opetaia rocked the Kiwi in every round with brutal body shots and hooks around a sizeable guard, and delivered a thunderous right hand in the fourth round that dropped Nyika.
The referee could have stopped the fight at that point, but chose to allow the fight to continue. Opetaia would make the most of that opportunity, knocking Nyika out cold just a few seconds later.
Nyika was left unconscious for several minutes as boxing fans around the world now react to one of the most brutal KOs we will see all year.
“That's shocking for the referee, he stood up and should never have let him take that hit,” one fan wrote, while another added: “Wow the referee should have intervened before the last shot went through. It's cold.”
“The referee should have called it on the first knockdown, I think.”
“He was down there a while ago, it was hard to see that.”
“What a devastating performance from Opetaia.”
Eddie Hearn focuses on Jai Opetaia vs. Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight
With his cruiserweight championship status secured, Opetaia called for a fight against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, who won the WBO cruiserweight title in a back-and-forth fight 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.”
While Opetaia versus Ramirez is a sensational fight we can all look forward to later in 2025, Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn has a much, much bigger name in mind.
'You are talking about a very, very special fighter in Jai Opetaia, that is not just [about] the belts at cruiserweight, they are also the belts at heavyweight.
“Jai is going to pick up all the titles in the cruiserweight division to become undisputed and then we want to push him into a fight with Oleksandr Usyk to try to become undisputed at heavyweight as well.
“You have to look for greatness, and he is good enough to do that… I believe he is the only person, whether a cruiserweight or a heavyweight, who can really give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight – but to To do that, we must first pick up every belt in the cruiserweight division.
Jai Opetaia is one of the most exciting boxers around and after another incredible KO in front of his home crowd, things are going from strength to strength for the new face of Australian boxing.
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