Nyika’s moment to shine: Opetaia tape to take

IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia has a lot to prove in his next defense against David Nyika in 13 days, on January 8 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.

The fans in love with Opetaia, 29 years old (26-0, 20 KOs) jumped ship after seeing her timid performance in her rematch against Mairis Briedis on May 18 earlier this year.

Plan for victory

Many of the fans realized they were wrong about Opetaia, believing him to be pure gold after seeing him crush obscure second-tier fighters. When Opetaia got involved with the real, he wore yellow in his rematch against Briedis. You could see the fear in his eyes as Briedis stalked him, and it was very disappointing.

Opetaia looked scared when they started taking hard hits from Briedis. He looked like Dmitry Bivol in the way he ran around the ring, being chased by the 39-year-old.

It wasn’t a good photo. For fans to forget that image, Opetaia must come to fight, stay in the pocket and exchange powerful blows with Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) on January 8.

Nyika has a real chance of winning this fight if she follows Briedis’ plan and puts Opetaia under constant, strong pressure. Opetaia doesn’t like to be hit. He’s not the same guy when his opponents face him.

Legacy on the line

“For me, it is another goal. It’s the same thing we all do. We get up and train. Yes, sure. That’s what I’ve been chasing. “I am pursuing unification struggles,” Jai Opetaia told CajaNation when asked if he is interested in fighting WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez in a unification.

“I have another mandate to take care of (David Nyika). This is a serious fight. David Nyika is from my danger zone. He has had a huge amateur pedigree. I expect 12 tough rounds. It’s exciting for the cruiserweight division. Yes, we want to do this work and we want to chase those unification belts.

“I have shared the ring with him (Nyika) many times. We have practiced a lot. He only lives an hour away from me. We are locals to the area. We work a lot together. So this was always going to happen,” Opetaia said of fighting a guy from the nearby territory to attract interest from Australians and New Zealanders.

This fight doesn’t appeal much to fans outside of Australia and New Zealand, who want to see Opetaia take on WBA champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, Chris Billam-Smith, Leonardo Mosquea and Cheavon Clarke.

The shadow of Briedis

There isn’t much interest in seeing Opetaia fight guys like Nyika, Jack Massey, Ellis Zorro and Jordan Thompson. I can’t say this enough: Opetaia did NOT look good in her rematch against 39-year-old Mairis Briedis on May 18 earlier this year. He sheepishly fought Briedis, running around the ring after he began to suffer facial damage.

When fans saw Opetaia’s performance, they labeled it an over-the-top job and he has done nothing since to prove them wrong. Opetaia does not like to be hit and will do everything possible to avoid punishment when faced with someone willing to stand up to him, as Briedis did.