Hearn: Opetaia To Conquer Cruiserweight, Challenge Usyk For Heavyweight Titles

Match announcer Eddie Hearn said tonight that IBF cruiserweight champion Jay Opetaya will “pick up all the belts at cruiserweight and then fight Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight to become the undisputed champion.”

Opetaya (27-0, 21 KOs) defeated challenger David Nika (10-1, 9 KOs) in the fourth round tonight at the Gold Coast Convention Center Broadbeach in Queensland, Australia. Referee David Fields sent Nika off after he was separated from Opetaya with a left hand. This was the second elimination in the fourth round.

Hearn’s Master Plan.

“I believe David Nika will be world champion in the future, but not tonight. He’s got the best fighter in Jay Opetaya, one of the best fighters not only in Australia but in the world,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. In the ring After Abdyu wins.

“This is the guy (Jai) who needs to put in the pound-for-pound rankings. Big future. Jay is humble enough not to talk about Oleksandr Usyk’s name, but I’m not. It’s my job,” Hearn continued.

“Jay’s going to take the cruiserweight belts uncontested, and then we want to push Oleksandr Usyk to fight him and make him uncontested at heavyweight. I believe he is the only one who can give Oleksandr Usyk a real fight, but to do that we have to pick up all the belts in the cruiserweight division first,” said Hearn.

Still, there is a lot of doubt about Opetaya going all the way to fight Usic at heavyweight. To get there, Jai must defeat WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs). If he wins, he will still have to defeat WBC Champion Badu Jack, which won’t be easy.

Next stop: integration

Beating Zurdo will require some changes in Opetaya’s fighting style because this guy is smart, powerful and a great fighter. As we saw tonight, Jai can’t fight Leek on the inside and is very, very average. Ramirez’s bread and butter is fighting on the inside, and his sound striking is the best in the cruiserweight division. Above all, it’s smart.

“I’ve been following these merger wars. “I’m coming for my belts,” Opetaya said tonight against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, when asked if he’d be interested in fighting the unification in three to four months. “If they can do the following,[Turkey Al-Sheikh]can do the fight. He beat David Nika in a fourth-round knockout.”