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Opetaia’s pure weight cut hell = Nyika’s golden opportunity


Eddie Hearn believes Jai Opetaia can knock out David Nyika in three rounds on Wednesday night if the challenger stands and fights when he takes on the IBF cruiserweight champion at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Australia.

Hearn sees the outcome of the fight up to Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs). If he attacks his replacement opponent Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) with full force within the first three rounds, he will have no choice but to fight. When that happens, Hearn hopes Opetaia will be too much for the lanky 6’6″ stork.

Drained Weight Champion

Eddie doesn’t mention how exhausted and worn out Opetaia looked at the weigh-in. He looked exhausted from making weight, and it’s pretty clear he’s putting himself through hell to make the cruiserweight limit.

Opetaia is a small heavyweight with the same size as Oleksandr Usyk, and that is where he should be fighting at this point in his career. He’s made it past the cruiserweight division and is having a hard time making weight to stay there.

Nyika could take advantage of a sold-out Opetaia on Wednesday night and finish the job Mairis Briedis started last May. Briedis beat up Opetaia and was forced to flee in the championship rounds to avoid elimination.

Nyika is the first world-class fighter Opetaia has fought since the Briedis fight, and he could fall apart if he is forced to fight hard every round.

“There’s Nyika on the one-on-one, asking Jai Opetaia how his 18-hour flight to Saudi Arabia went. Don’t forget he was there a couple of weeks ago for the big fight. “This is a serious fight,” Eddie Hearn told Boxing in the match roomtalking about Wednesday’s clash between IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia and David Nyika.

“This is a massive global fight. It’s one of the best fights, if not the best fight in the cruiserweight division. The only fight in the cruiserweight division better than this is Opetaia against Zurdo Ramírez. If Jai Opetaia is overlooking Nyika or if he is not fired up and prepared, he will have his hands full tomorrow night.

“A lot will be decided in those first rounds when Jai Opetaia touches Nyika for the first time with those little gloves. I think Nyika will do well the longer the fight goes, but Nyika will fall apart very quickly there. You’ve seen a lot of guys without the experience to get in there,” Hearn said.

Nyika may not go down because he’s fighting a guy who is killing himself to make the cruiserweight limit and has been through two serious wars with Mairis Briedis in 2022 and 2024. Both fights were grueling for Opetaia, and he received more punishment that he. had in any of his previous fights during his 10-year professional career.

Opetaia’s handlers have given him plenty of soft lower-level opposition to strengthen him. Therefore, he does not have the experience Hearn talks about in the professional game. It’s just the two fights against Briedis, which were hell for him. He was lucky to be able to fight the Latvian at the end of his career and not during his prime. Briedis showed that Opetaia is not the great talent Hearn and others promote him to be.

“Once Jai starts putting it on you, you have to stand up and fight. If he does, I think this fight will end in three rounds. I really do it because if Jai comes out and starts getting aggressive with Nyika, he’s not going to box for long. He also likes to stand and trade,” Hearn said.

Opetaia jaw problems

It could be a mistake for Opetaia to attack the 6’6″ Nyika early in the contest. Doing so could cause the scar tissue around your eyes to open prematurely, which you don’t need. Jai is better off taking cuts later. Additionally, he has jaw problems due to a bad fracture during the fight with Briedis. If there is a weakness there, Nyika will bring it out.

“If you look at Nyika’s weakness, sometimes she takes too many hits,” Hearn said. “Maybe it’s because he’s fighting at a lower level and he’s not as worried or as excited. These are the kind of fights where you will see the best in someone like Nyika.”

Opetaia has the same weaknesses as Nyika in terms of taking a lot of hits, and that’s understandable, because he’s a slugger who tries to knock everyone out. That’s why he was beaten and forced to run in his two fights with Briedis, especially in the second. It looked like a lion was chasing him in the second contest. Those bulging eyes of his had a look of 100% pure fear, and you couldn’t blame him. Briedis was putting the fire under his ass.

“This kid has pedigree. Nyika is a serious fighter. It’s not that he’s not good enough to become a world champion. I’m sure Nyika will become world champion, but will he become world champion tomorrow night? It might be too soon. If it’s special, maybe I’ll do it,” Hearn said.

At 29 years old, if Nyika is not ready now, he never will be. Hearn talks about him as if he were a young pup rather than a fighter in his late 30s. He has had a long amateur career, fighting much, much better technical fighters than Opetaia could hope to be. Experience wise, Nyika is more than ready to win this fight. If you lose, it’s not because you were deficient in the experience department.

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