Notebook: Opetaia forced to vacate IBF cruiserweight belt
Defends lineal title on Joshua-Wallin PPV; Matchroom, DAZN unveil February schedule; Keyshawn steps up; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia was left with no choice but to vacate the IBF title as he heads into a fight against Ellis Zorro on the massive “Day of Reckoning” card on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The IBF, citing arcane rules, refused to sanction the bout with Zorro because Opetaia had already been ordered to face mandatory challenger and former champion Mairis Breidis in a rematch.
However, Breidis is still sidelined with an injury and was not available to fight Opetaia on Saturday’s card (DAZN PPV and ESPN+ PPV, 11 a.m. ET, $39.99).
Further, Breidis told the IBF he was willing to wait to face the Opetaia-Zorro winner and had no problem allowing Opetaia to defend the title this week. Both camps also told the IBF they had a deal in place for the fight to take place in February.
The IBF denied an appeal of the decision and would have stripped Opetaia for going through with the fight against Zorro (17-0, 7 KOs), 31, of England, so he vacated. The Zorro bout is part of a lucrative three-fight deal Opetaia and his team struck with Riyadh Season organizers, who are bankrolling the major fights in Saudi Arabia. Opetaia is reportedly earning a career-high $450,000 for Saturday’s fight as part of a deal worth more than $2 million.
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“I fought through absolute agony to win that belt and it saddens me to relinquish it,” Opetaia said. “But the fact is, Briedis isn’t ready to fight on December 23 and I need to stay active. I simply can’t turn down a career-high payday. Belts should be won and lost in the ring and I’m still The Ring magazine champion and all roads in the cruiserweight division go through me.”
In a hellacious slugfest, Opetaia outpointed Breidis (28-2, 20 KOs), 38, of Latvia, to win the title in July 2022 despite fighting most of the bout with a broken jaw that required surgery and kept him out of the ring for 14 months.
Opetaia (23-0, 18 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Australia, returned on Sept. 30 and made a successful first defense by knocking out Jordan Thompson in the fourth round of the first fight of his co-promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing, which partnered with his longtime promoter Tasman Fighters.
“I am the true king of the cruiserweight division and I’ll be defending that prestigious Ring magazine title,” Opetaia said. “I look forward to getting that IBF belt back as soon as possible and adding all of them, one by one.”
Mick Francis, Opetaia’s manager, was perplexed by the IBF ruling.
“We respect the IBF’s rules which are in place to protect the boxer in the mandatory position,” Francis said. “However, this was one extremely bizarre circumstance where the mandatory boxer was actually happy to not have it immediately enforced, as he’s injured.
“We were left with three options: Vacate, be stripped if Jai fights on (Saturday) or wait for Briedis. There’s an old saying that you can’t eat trophies. Jai cannot turn down the life changing money on offer for the Zorro bout and we need the activity. So we will respect the IBF rules and vacate the belt. Jai will instead be defending the most recognizable belt in boxing, The Ring magazine belt.”
Opetaia said he would not allow the belt situation to sidetrack him or make him lose focus.
“I cannot wait to get in the ring,” Opetaia said. “It’s all outside noise and it's also just fuel on the fire. It makes me want to perform even better. The thing is all roads lead to me. We’ve definitely earned our spot on this card, which is the biggest in boxing history. I can’t lie — it’s been a rough journey. It’s been a rollercoaster to get to where we are, but we are here. So, I feel like I’m the motivation to all my rivals. I’m working hard. I’m doing what I've got to. I’m focused on my own journey, and I’m not worried about them.
“I’m locked in on Ellis Zorro and I’m expecting a solid version of him. He's going to have to pick it up when he faces me. So, I’m pumped. I’m ready. I've earned my spot here. It didn't happen by accident. And we just go out and we do what we do.”
The IBF said it would order Breidis to face the next leading available contender.
“The IBF accepts Jai Opetaia’s decision to vacate the title and wishes him well,” the organization said in a statement.
Opetaia-Zorro is part of a card headlined by former two-time unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua against Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder facing fellow former heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker in the co-feature of a stacked card.
Also on the card: WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol defends against Lyndon Arthur with four other heavyweight fights: IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic-Mark De Mori; Daniel Dubois-Jarrell Miller; Arslanbek Makhmudov-Agit Kabayel; and Frank Sanchez-Junior Fa.
Matchroom Boxing in February
Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and DAZN announced three shows for February, including the next bout for super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga.
On Feb. 10 at the Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle, England, welterweight Conah Walker will go to Cyrus Pattinson’s hometown for an immediate rematch in the main event of a “NXTGEN” prospect card.
In an all-action fight in August, Walker (12-2-1, 4 KOs), 28, dropped British countryman Pattinson (6-1, 4 KOs), 29, a southpaw, three times in an eighth-round upset knockout win in Birmingham, England.
The card will also include an all-British eight-rounder between lightweight prospect Cameron Vuong (3-0, 2 KOs), 21, and Ishmael Ellis (14-7, 0 KOs), 32.
On Feb. 126 at a site to be announced in Mexico, IBF junior flyweight titlist Adrien Curiel will face former titleholder Sivenathi Nontshinga in an immediate rematch.
Curiel (24-4-1, 5 KOs), 24, of Mexico, won the 108-pound title via shocking second-round upset knockout over Nontshinga (12-1, 9 KOs), 25, of South Africa, in November in Monte Carlo.
And on Feb. 24 at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, Berlanga (21-0, 16 KOs), 26, a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, New York, will take on Padraig McCrory (18-0, 9 KOs), 35, of Northern Ireland, who will box in the United States for the first time, in a 12-rounder in a bout that had been expected.
Wins by Berlanga and Jamie Munguia, who faces John Ryder on Jan. 27 in Phoenix, could lead to a Munguia-Berlanga showdown later in the year.
“It's time for Cyrus Pattinson to show us what he's made of when he faces Conah Walker in a must-win rematch with his career on the line,” Hearn said. “Adrien Curiel caused one of the biggest upsets in boxing this year when he sensationally dethroned Sivenathi Nontshinga in Monte Carlo. He gets the hero's return to Mexico where he will be looking to end Nontshinga's dreams. ‘The Chose One’ Edgar Berlanga is out to remind everyone why he is rated as one of the very best super middleweights on the planet.”
Davis to face Pedraza
Lightweight Keyshawn Davis, the 2022 Fight Freaks Unite prospect of the year, will face former lightweight and junior lightweight titlist Jose Pedraza in the 10-round co-feature of lineal/WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez’s defense against Jamaine Ortiz on Feb. 8 (ESPN), Top Rank told Fight Freaks Unite.
Both fights are agreed to and, according to Top Rank, the company is waiting on paperwork to be returned, so neither has been formally announced.
The card will take place at a site to be determined in Las Vegas, probably Mandalay Bay, according to Top Rank. The card is on a Thursday night instead of the usual Saturday night but will take place three days before Super Bowl LVIII will be played on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which will be filled with sports fans.
Davis-Pedraza had been in the works for Dec. 9 but that was before the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation suspended Davis (9-0, 6 KOs), 24, a 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist from Norfolk, Virginia, for 90 days.
The reason was because he tested positive for marijuana, which remains on the banned list, in his post-fight drug test following a 10-round majority decision win against Nahir Albright on Oct. 14 in Rosenberg, Texas. The result of the bout was changed to a no contest.
Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KOs), 34, of Puerto Rico, will be a significant step up in competition for Davis, although he is 0-2-1 in his last three bouts: a competitive decision to Arnold Barboza Jr. in February; a draw with former lightweight titlist Richard Commey in August 2022; and a competitive decision to former unified junior welterweight titlist Jose Ramirez in March 2022. Pedraza has been at junior welterweight since 2019 but will move down to lightweight, Top Rank said.
Quick hits
Peter Kahn, the 2022 BWAA manager of the year, announced he has signed southpaw light heavyweight Dilshodbek Ruzmetov (3-0, 1 KO), 24, a 2020 Olympian from Uzbekistan, who also was a gold medalist at the 2021 Asian Championships and a silver medalist at the 2019 World Amateur Championships. Two of Ruzmetov’s first three fights were in Uzbekistan and his second fight was in Mexico, but he trains in Boca Raton, Florida — near where Kahn lives — with co-trainers Artem Kuzminov and Derik Santos. “It was easy to see that his style is tailor made for the professional ranks. I am excited for what’s to come,” Kahn said.
Los Angeles-based Armenia native Gor Yeritsyan (17-0, 14 KOs), 28, who is trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, will face Houston’s Quinton Randall (13-1-1, 3 KOs), 33, in the 10-round welterweight main event of a “Hollywood Fight Nights” card on Feb. 23 (UFC Fight Pass) at Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, 360 Promotions’ Tom Loeffler announced. “Gor is ready to take the next step up which makes this fight and this training camp all the more important,” Roach said. “Randall is a tough fighter and he has our full attention.”
Show and tell
England’s Prince Naseem Hamed was a sensation at home. The flashy and extremely brash featherweight titlist was selling out arenas before his opponent had even been announced. Then he would inevitably score a knockout following his over-the-top ring walk that concluded with a flip over the top rope into the ring. A few of his fights had televised in the United States on Showtime and even on ABC, but then HBO signed him to a fat contract in 1997 and the first fight was his American debut. He came to New York’s Madison Square Garden to defend his WBO title against crowd-pleasing New Yorker Kevin Kelley, a former titlist and big talker.
The fight got enormous hype and exceeded even the wildest expectations. After Hamed made an unforgettable and prolonged ring walk, he and Kelley engaged in an all-time classic slugfest in which they combined for six knockdowns. Hamed was down in the first, second and fourth rounds and Kelly was on the deck in the second and twice more in the fourth, when Hamed knocked him out. HBO’s legendary commentator Larry Merchant dubbed it as the “Hagler-Hearns of featherweight fighting.” There is no higher praise for an intense and dramatic shootout.
Although overshadowed by the great main event, the co-feature was also an outstanding fight as Kennedy McKinney knocked out Junior Jones, who was coming off back-to-back upset wins over Marco Antonio Barrera, in the fourth round of an action fight to take the WBO junior featherweight title. McKinney was down in the third round and Jones in the fourth. The memorable Hamed-Kelley brawl, which is one of my all-time favorite fights, took place on Dec. 19, 1997 — 26 years ago on Tuesday. Here is the HBO poster and a program from the fight in my collection.
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Photos: Opetaia: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Berlanga: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Davis: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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The Ibf are a fucking joke they stripped Crawford of his title then they do this to Opetaia he had no choice but vacate you going to give up your biggest payday for a title,dan the wbc champ is a free agent i think is he if he is that will be the path they go