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IBF cruiserweight champion Jay Opetaya (27-0, 21 KOs) scored a fourth-round, two-knockout victory over David Nika (10-1, 9 KOs) Wednesday night at the Gold Coast Convention Center in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.
He descends the world
The fight was fought at close range for the first three rounds, with the 6’6″ Nika fighting his bigger size and destroying Opetaya’s offense. In the fourth, Opetaya found space to land his power shots and dropped Nika twice. The second fall landed Nika face-first on the ground, seriously injuring him.
“I expected him to box out. The first round was really intense. I didn’t expect him to box out that hard, and after the first round, I was like, ‘Here we go. The boxing is about to start.’ He just kept coming forward, and that’s what happened,” said Jai Opetaia MediaTalking about his win over David Nika in Australia tonight.
Nika had no choice but to stay inside, trying to distract Opetaya. When Opetaya had space to throw his long power balls from the outside, he was dominating Nika, who had neither the offense nor the defense to deal with it. So Nika did the right thing by shutting down the action without giving Opetaya room to use his power shot.
Where Nika got into trouble in the fourth round was when he gave Opetaya space which hurt him, causing him to fall to the canvas for the first fall. Moments later, Opetaya finished punching Nika, finishing with a vicious left hand to the head that put the challenger face down on the canvas. Nika was badly hurt by the knock and stayed for a long time.
“I respect David. I hope it’s okay. He is a great warrior. I don’t think people give us the credit we deserve because we just fought. He just punched us,” Opetaya said. “I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.
“I want Zurdon!”
“The fight is done and dusted. I’m looking at what’s next. I’m chasing merger fights now. I’m not worried about the final fight,” Jay said.
Opetaya will next seek a unification bout against WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Whether or not that fight happens depends on the money. Zurdo and Golden Boy’s promoters wanted it to be financially viable before agreeing to a risky match with Opetaya.
I will say this: Opetaya landed several cutting punches on the inside during the fight, many of which hit Nika in the back of the head. The referee should have said something to Jai during the fight to stop with those rabbit shots because they seemed to take most of the fight out of Nika. Boxing is a very strange thing. Referees are too big to stop low blows but do too little to warn and punish the more dangerous rabbit punches.
