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Jai Opetaia stopped David Nyika with a vicious knockout on Wednesday, retaining the IBF cruiserweight title on home soil in Australia.
Opetaia stopped the New Zealander in round four, landing a series of shots with Nyika stuck against the ropes and putting the challenger down and out with a brutal left hook.
Moments earlier, Opetaia had floored Nyika with a left and right at close range, but the latter was quick to stand. With a minute left in the round, however, there was always danger for Nyika, and Opetaia stalked him in pursuit of a finish.
It soon came, with Opetaia’s left hook putting Nyika facedown on the canvas and in need of treatment. A few minutes later, Nyika was sitting up, as Opetaia applauded from his corner.
The result kept Opetaia, 29, unbeaten, while he handed Nyika, also 29, his first professional loss.
Opetaia then used his post-fight interview to call out WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez, as the Australian seeks to unify the cruiserweight belts.
“Ramirezzzzzz, I’m coming for the belts! I’m coming for my belts,” Opetaia said, after paying respect to Nyika.
“David, thank you,” he said. “Man, he took the fight on three weeks’ notice, he came here to fight, he gave me a dogfight. I respect that. I take my hat off to David. Man, all that style s*** went out the window. That was a dogfight, and I respect that. He kept coming forward, he kept punching. Thank you, David. We gave this crowd a good fight.”
Opetaia’s promoter Eddie Hearn added: “Nyika came up against not just the best fighter in Australia, but one of the best fighters in the world, in Jai Opetaia. You’re talking about a very, very special fighter. It’s not just the belts at cruiserweight, it’s the belts at heavyweight. Huge future ahead.”
Hearn specifically talked up a potential fight between the Australian and Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the unified heavyweight titles.
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Enjoy over 150+ fights on DAZN,
the Global Home of Boxing.
Stream now
“I think Jai’s humble enough to not yet talk about the name of Oleksandr Usyk; I’m not,” Hearn said. “Jai is gonna 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 – try to become undisputed in the heavyweight division as well.
“You have to search for greatness, he’s good enough to do it. I believe he’s the only person right now, cruiserweight or heavyweight, that can genuinely give Usyk a real, real fight. But to do it, we’ve got to pick up every belt in the cruiserweight division first.”
Usyk, 37, reigned as undisputed cruiserweight champion before venturing up to heavyweight. There, he became undisputed champion by beating Tyson Fury last May, before vacating the IBF belt. In December, the Ukrainian outpointed Fury for the second time in seven months, retaining the unified titles.
