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IBF heavyweight champion Jai Opetaia has a lot to prove in his next defense against David Nyika in 13 days' time on January 8 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.
Fans are in love with 29-year-old Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) jumped ship after watching his timid performance in his rematch with Mairis Briedis on May 18 earlier this year.
A plan to win
Many fans realized they were wrong about Opetaia believing he was pure gold after watching him steamroll obscure second tier fighters. When Opettaia came in with the real thing, he looked yellow in his rematch against Briedis. You could see the fear in his eyes as Briedis chased him, and it was so frustrating.
Opettaia looked scared as they started landing hard punches from Briedis. He resembled Dmitry Bivol in the way he ran around the ring, chased by the 39-year-old.
It wasn't a good picture. To make fans forget about that image, Opetaia needs to come fight, stay in the pocket and trade hard punches with the tough Nyika (10-0, 9 KO) on January 8th.
Nyika has a real chance to win this fight if he follows Briedis' plan and puts Opetaia under heavy, continuous pressure. Opetaia does not like to be hit. He is not the same when his opponents face him.
Opetaia Familiar With Nyika
“It's another goal for me. It's the same thing we all do. We get up and train. Yes, for sure. This is what I was after. I am chasing unification battles,” Jai Opettaya told the BoxNation when asked if he was interested in a unification fight with WBA heavyweight champion Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez.
“I have one more imperative duty to take care of (David Nica). This is a serious battle. David Nika is on my side. It has a huge amateur pedigree. I expect 12 tough rounds. It's exciting for the heavyweight division. Yes, we want to do this work and we want to pursue these unification belts.
“I've shared the ring with him (Nick) many times. We did a lot of sparring. He lives only an hour away from me. We are local to the area. We work together a lot. So that was always going to happen,” Opetaia said of battling a man from nearby territory to attract interest from Australians and New Zealanders.
It is important for Opetaia to stay on the front foot, attack and not retreat when under heavy fire from Nyika. To become a global star, Jai needs to stand his ground this time and not back down when Neeka wants to commit. He seems to admire Buffalo's fighting style, which is a poisonous style if it's for fun.
This fight isn't going down well with fans outside of Australia and New Zealand who want to see Opetaia against WBA champion Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez, Chris Billam-Smith, Leonardo Mosquea and Cheavon Clarke.
The Shadow of Briedis
There isn't much interest in seeing Opetaia fight guys like Nyika, Jack Massey, Ellis Zorro and Jordan Thompson. I can't say this enough: Opetaia did NOT look good in his rematch against 39-year-old Mairis Briedis on May 18th earlier this year. He fought timidly against Briedis, running around the ring after starting to take damage to his face.
When fans saw Opetaia's performance, they dismissed it as a publicity stunt and since then he has done nothing to prove them wrong. Opetaia does not like to be hit and will do anything to avoid punishment when faced with someone willing to challenge him, as Briedis did.
