Cruiserweight champ Opetaia's next defense set, but he's looking ahead
Faces unknown Squeo in stay-busy fight on May 13 but really has a unification bout with Zurdo Ramirez on his mind
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Lineal/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia’s next title defense was made official on Thursday, but he is desperate for a unification fight and continued to call out WBO/WBA titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez even with another opponent on deck.
Opetaia will make his sixth lineal defense and the third defense of his second IBF reign against Claudio Squeo on May 13 (DAZN) in a home region fight at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Australia, Matchroom Boxing and Tasman Fighters announced.
The fight will be Opetaia’s second in a row at the venue. On Jan. 8, Opetaia scored a brutal fourth-round knockout of unbeaten David Nyika, who took the fight on three weeks’ notice in place of injured mandatory challenger Huseiyn Cinkara,
Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs), 29, a southpaw, returns home to face the obscure Squeo (17-0, 9 KOs), 34, who has never fought outside of his native Italy and never faced an even remotely notable opponent. In his last fight in October, Squeo knocked out a 16-18-2 opponent in the second round.
While happy to be back in action just four months after his last fight, Opetaia is not at all thrilled with the selection of his opponent because he has bigger aspirations.
“To be honest, it’s a bit frustrating,” Opetaia said after the fight was announced in an interview on DAZN during the weigh-in show for the George Kambosos Jr.-Jake Wyllie card that takes place on Saturday in Sydney, Australia. “I’ve been chasing these unifications. I’ve been chasing the Zurdo fight and still it hasn’t come. I don’t know why. It’s bullshit. The best should be fighting the best. It doesn’t make sense to me why it’s not getting over the line. The only reason would be he’s ducking. We’re really pushing for these unification fights but I can only do so much.”
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Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), 33, a Mexican southpaw, won the WBA belt by lopsided decision from Arsen Goulamirian last March. In his next fight in November, Ramirez bludgeoned Chris Billam-Smith in a unanimous decision victory to take his WBO title in their unification fight.
Afterward, he said he was interested in unifying with Opetaia. First, however, Ramirez will make a mandatory defense against former titlist Yuniel Dorticos in June. Ramirez promoter Golden Boy said after that the intention is to work with Matchroom Boxing and Turki Alalshikh to make the fight with Opetaia for this fall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“So this is another stay busy fight, which I’m not taking lightly,” Opetaia said of the May 13 bout. “(Squeo) is nothing special, nothing I haven’t seen before. It’s another day in the office, but I’m chasing Zurdo. This guy (Squeo) is in the way. We’ve got to remove him and keep pushing for these unifications. It’s frustrating.
“We want to fight the best in the division and it just makes sense. I don’t know why we’re dancing around. I’ll take a pay cut. I’ll do what I have to do to get this fight over the line. Just give me the belt.”
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said the Opetaia-Ramirez fight likely would be made for a Riyadh Season card in September or October as long as they win their upcoming bouts, but he understood Opetaia’s frustration.
“We know the big fights are coming — Zurdo and the plan is to become undisputed and unified,” Hearn said. “But this guy wants to stay busy and the event in the Gold Coast in January was wild. We want to be back there defending the world title in May and it’s important to look good before trying to pick up those other belts by the end of 2025.
“I really want him to fight frequently this year. We want the Zurdo Ramirez fight but also (WBC titleholder) Badou Jack is fighting (Ryan) Rozicki coming up soon as well (on May 3 in Riyadh) and that’s another fight (against the winner) we’ve got to get to get all the belts before the inevitable move up to the big boys (at heavyweight).”
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Opetaia photo: Tasman Fighters
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