Jai Opetaia

Jai Opetaia (born 30 June 1995) is an Australian professional boxer. He has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the Ring magazine cruiserweight titles since 2022. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2012 Youth World Championships and represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics and 2014 Commonwealth Games. As of February 2023, Opetaia is ranked the world's best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine, and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, second by BoxRec, and third best by ESPN.
Early life
Opetaia was born in Sydney, New South Wales and is of Samoan and European Australian heritage. He is related to Australian football player Tim Cahill and former rugby league player Ben Roberts.
Amateur career
In Opetaia's amateur career, he won the Light Heavyweight title at the 2011 Junior World Championships then qualified for the 2012 Olympics as a Heavyweight at the age of 16, making him the youngest ever Australian Olympic boxer.
Opetaia won the Junior World title in Kazakhstan in July 2011.
At the Olympic qualifier in Canberra 2012 he had a tough final against New Zealander David Light but prevailed 15:10.
In 2012, Opetaia got the bronze medal at the AIBA World Youth Championships in the heavyweight division. Later that year, Opetaia competed at the 2012 Olympics, however did not pass the first round of the tournament.
Professional career
Early career
Opetaia was scheduled to face Daniel Ammann for the vacant WBC-OPBF and Australian cruiserweight titles on July 15, 2017. He won the fight by a ninth-round technical knockout. Opetaia was next scheduled to face Frankie Lopez for the vacant IBF Youth cruiserweight title on October 21, 2017. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout.
Opetaia made his first Australian Cruiserweight title defense against Benjamin Kelleher on January 17, 2018. He won the fight by a third-round technical knockout. Opetaia fought for yet another regional title on April 7, 2018, when he was set to face Lukas Paszkowsky for the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific cruiserweight title. He won the fight by a second-round technical knockout. Opetaia made his first WBO Asia-Pacific cruiserweight title defense against Kurtis Pegoraro on June 29, 2018. The fight was simultaneously a fight for the vacant IBF Pan-Pacific cruiserweight title. He won the fight by a second-round knockout.
Opetaia fought Navosa Ioata for the vacant WBA Oceania interim cruiserweight title on May 15, 2019, and won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout. Opetaia made his first title defense two months later, on July 27, 2019, against Nikolas Charalampous, while also fighting for the vacant WBO Global cruiserweight title. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Opetaia made the first defense of these two titles, and fought for the inaugural IBF Asia-Oceania cruiserweight title, against Mark Flanagan on November 16, 2019. He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout.
Opetaia was scheduled to defend his IBF Asia-Oceania and WBO Global cruiserweight titles in a rematch with Benjamin Kelleher on October 22, 2020. He won the fight by a sixth-round technical knockout.
IBF cruiserweight champion
Opetaia vs. Briedis
Opetaia was scheduled to challenge the reigning IBF and The Ring cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis on 6 April 2022. The bout was postponed on February 16, as Briedis tested positive for COVID-19. The bout was rescheduled for 11 May, and was expected to take place at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. The bout was once again postponed on April 8, as Opetaia suffered a rib injury, and rescheduled for July 2. Opetaia won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–112, 116–112 and 115–113. During the fight, Opetaia badly broke his jaw in two places. Unable to give an interview following the match, he was instead taken directly to the hospital to undergo surgery to repair the fractures.
Opetaia vs. Thompson
Opetaia was expected to face mandatory challenger Mateusz Masternak in early 2023, but was forced to undergo left shoulder surgery on February 1, 2023. He requested a 60-day medical extension from the IBF before entering into negotiations with Masternak, which was granted on February 18. The two camps failed to come to terms despite the extension and a pursed bid was called by the sanctioning body for July 15, 2023. Masternak withdrew from the bid a day before it was supposed to take place. The IBF removed Masternak's mandatory status the very next day and ordered Opeteia to face the #2 ranked cruiserweight contender Richard Riakporhe instead. Riakporhe himself withdrew from the negotiations on August 8, 2023, shortly before a scheduled purse bid hearing.
The IBF designated former champion Mairis Briedis as the next mandatory challenger on August 10, 2023. The sanctioning body ordered the two to enter into negotiations that very same day. Opetaia's team requested an immediate purse bid in lie of a negotiation period. The sanctioning body indefinitely suspended the purse bid hearing on August 22. This allowed Opetaia to enter into negotiations with Jordan Thompson for a voluntary title defense that took place at the Wembley Arena in London, England on September 30, 2023. Opetaia defeated Thompson by TKO in the fourth round and made the first successful defense of his belt.
Professional boxing record
See also
List of southpaw stance boxers
List of world cruiserweight boxing champions
References
External links
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1995 births
Living people
Australian male boxers
Boxers from Sydney
Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent
Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic boxers for Australia
Boxers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia
Southpaw boxers
Cruiserweight boxers
Heavyweight boxers
World cruiserweight boxing champions
International Boxing Federation champions
The Ring (magazine) champions
Sportsmen from New South Wales