{"id":87148,"date":"2025-11-25T05:59:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/opetaia-challenges-jack-cruiser-unification-in-sight-after-title-defense\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T05:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:59:22","slug":"opetaia-challenges-jack-cruiser-unification-in-sight-after-title-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/boxing\/opetaia-challenges-jack-cruiser-unification-in-sight-after-title-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Opetaia challenges Jack: Cruiser Unification in Sight After Title Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"Jai Opetaia, the undefeated IBF and The Ring champion, plans to travel to Los Angeles to face his next target in person, after declaring that he will not be rushed in his quest for unification in the cruiserweight category.\n\nOpetaia, with an impeccable record, will make the mandatory defense of his titles against Turkish challenger Huseyin Cinkara (23-0) on December 6 on the Gold Coast.\n\nThis will be his eighth fight since he conquered both belts more than three years ago, and it comes after impressive knockouts in his only two appearances in 2025, which raised his record to 28-0.\n\nDespite his victories, the 30-year-old boxer has not been able to unify his titles. Opetaia’s power and the relatively small Australian market have deterred other belt holders.\n\nGilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ram\u00edrez, owner of the WBO and WBA belts, is the main obstacle, as he announced a defense for May of next year against the American David Benavidez, in what will be his return after shoulder surgery.\n\nBadou Jack, born in Sweden and boxing out of Las Vegas, will put his WBC belt on the line in a rematch against Noel Mikaelian in Los Angeles on December 6.\n\nOpetaia’s team has criticized Ram\u00edrez for avoiding him, and the Australian boxer is now aiming for Jack’s WBC belt if everything goes according to plan on the Gold Coast next Saturday.\n\nThey are playing, but we are still winning.\n\n
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Chris Hyde\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nOpetaia wants to move up a category and become a world champion in multiple divisions, but not before owning all the cruiserweight belts.\n\n

I’m not in a hurry. I’m calm, winning, I feel good and fighting, doing my thing, and these fights will come. I won’t let anyone rush me or speed up the process of achieving my dreams.<\/p>Jai Opetaia<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\nMick Francis, head of Tasman Fighters and promoter of Opetaia, revealed that both will fly to the United States immediately after the fight against Cinkara to force the situation with the winner of that fight.\n\nOpetaia is not interested in going around, but he will participate.\n\n

I don’t know why I would have to fly and face him; it’s getting a bit stupid. Everyone wants these fights to happen, people want to see these unification fights. If he wants to fight, we will fight.<\/p>Jai Opetaia<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\nThe talented Gold Coast boxer will headline a stellar card that includes former world champion Jason Moloney, heavyweights Justis Huni and Teremoana Jnr, Max McIntyre, Ben Mahoney and Paul Fleming against Jake Wyllie.\n\nIn a historic move, Francis has partnered with Stan Sports in a pay-per-view deal that will be the streaming service’s biggest boxing production, competing with Fox Sports’ Main Event and the global streaming service DAZN.\n\nOpetaia, Australia’s youngest Olympic boxer at the London 2012 Games, at just 17 years old, and Huni were Francis’ first signings in 2017.\n\n

We’ve always gone against the grain and done things differently. You’re seeing it now, but it’s just another day at the office for us. I only focus on winning, because that’s what matters. If I lose the fight, everyone will scatter.<\/p>Jai Opetaia<\/cite><\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jai Opetaia, the undefeated IBF and The Ring champion, plans to travel to Los Angeles to face his next target in person, after declaring that he will not be rushed in his quest for unification in the cruiserweight category. Opetaia, with an impeccable record, will make the mandatory defense of his titles against Turkish challenger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[205,3754,3755,3759],"class_list":{"0":"post-87148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-cruiserweight","10":"tag-jai-opetaia","11":"tag-unification"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}