Nyika drowned in a sea of ​​powerful blows from Opetaia

IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) retained his title with a fourth-round, two-knockdown victory over David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.

The world is sinking

The fight took place at close range for the first three rounds, with the 6’6″ Nyika neutralizing Opetaia’s offense by fighting him off with her massive size. In the fourth, Opetaia had room to land her powerful punches and dropped Nyika twice for the knockout. The second fall left Nyika face down on the ground, seriously injured.

“I was hoping he would go out and box. The first round was quite intense. I didn’t expect him to come out so aggressive and then after the first round I was like, ‘Here we go.’ He’s going to start boxing. He kept moving forward and that’s what happens,” Jai Opetaia told the mediatalking about his victory over David Nyika tonight in Australia.

Nyika had no choice but to stay inside, attempt to maim Opetaia and stifle her power with fighting. When Opetaia had space to hit his powerful long shots from outside, he dominated Nyika, who didn’t have the offense or defense to deal with it. So, Nyika did the right thing by keeping the action close, not giving Opetaia room to gain leverage with her powerful shots.

Where Nyika got into trouble in the fourth round was when he gave Opetaia room to throw an uppercut, which hurt him, leading to several more power shots that left him on the canvas for the first knockdown. Moments later, Opetaia finished Nyika with a flurry of punches, ending with a brutal left hand to the head that left the challenger face down on the canvas. Nyika was seriously injured from the fall and remained on the ground for a long time.

“I respect David. I hope it’s okay. He is a great fighter. I don’t think people give him the credit he deserves for the way we just fought. “We literally kept going,” Opetaia said. “I don’t think he gets all the credit he deserves.

“I want Zurdo!”

“The fight is done and dusted. I’m looking at what’s next. Now I’m chasing unification fights. I don’t worry about the last fight,” Jai said.

Opetaia wants an upcoming unification bout against WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Whether that fight can happen will depend on money. Zurdo and his promoters at Golden Boy will want to make it worth it financially before accepting a risky match against Opetaia.

I will say this: Opetaia landed a lot of inside chopping blows during the fight, many of which hit Nyika in the back of the head. The referee should have said something to Jai during the fight to make him stop those rabbit shots because they seemed to take a lot of the fight away from Nyika. Boxing is weird. Referees are very good at stopping cheap shots, but they do very little to warn and penalize the much more dangerous rabbit shots.