Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia 24-0 (19) has issued an ominous warning to other 200-pound boxers, telling them his best his still to come.
The 28-year-old Australian southpaw wiped out Ellis Zorro 17-1 (7) in their opening round of their bout at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
It was the second early knockout in a row for Opetaia after a lengthy period on the sidelines due to injuries. His fourth-round knockout of Jordan Thompson 15-1 (12) in London, England in September marked his first bout in 15 months.
“I’m happy with the performance,” said Opetaia of his win over Zorro to Matchroom Boxing. “I was expecting a longer fight. I trained for 12 hard rounds but you know, I clipped him early and that’s all she wrote.
“He was hesitant because he wasn’t throwing anything and I sort of wanted to punch on. I clipped him early, I was sort of waiting for him to throw but he wasn’t throwing much, he was just sort of kicking back.”
The end came courtesy of a devastating left cross at the 2:56 mark of the opening frame. Opetaia is pleased to be able to throw the punch with full conviction after successful surgery to fix damage to the mitt.
“I had so many fights with a bad left hand and I couldn’t throw it properly, I couldn’t train properly, I couldn’t even hit the mitts like at 100%,” he said. “I’m just able to get sharper, faster, stronger, so the best is yet to come.”
The week leading up to the Zorro bout was filled with distractions for Opetaia, who vacated his IBF title after the New Jersey-based sanctioning body threatened to strip him for failing to face their leading contender Mairis Briedis 28-2 (20) next.
The 38-year-old Latvian veteran was offered the fight against Opetaia but turned it down, citing injury.
“Briedis is a fucking pussy, man. He pulled out. He’s lost my respect,” said Opetaia, who defeated Briedis by unanimous decision in July last year to claim the IBF belt despite suffering two fractures to his jaw.
“I used to look up to him coming through my cruiserweight journey. My first couple of pro fights I used to run on a treadmill watch fights against him and [Oleksandr] Usyk and just know I was going to fight people like that. Well, I gave him a touchup once and he never came back, so it is what it is.
“He’s doing what he’s doing I’m doing what I’m doing I’m here on these big stages we’re making statements every time we fight. I’m training hard and I’m just focused on the future.”
Opetaia flew home to Australia from Saudi Arabia on Boxing Day to spend Christmas with his family, but he won’t be out of the gym for long with his ring return planned for March back in the Middle East.
“I’m not sure who the next opponent is, but whoever His Excellency tells me to fight, that’s who I’m punching on with,” Opetaia said.
“Whoever he tells me in a fight, that’s who I’m fighting. He’s the one making all the moves, he’s the boss and I’m just the warrior fighting in the ring, you know what I mean? So we got to do what we got to do.”
Asked about WBO titleholder Chris Billam-Smith 19-1 (13) and WBA beltholder Arsen Goulamirian 27-0 (18), Opetaia paid them nothing but respect.
“Billam-Smith is a great fighter,” Opetaia said. “He’s got the will to win he he’s he’s a soldier, you know what I mean? He’s a tough bastard, he keeps walking forward, that would be a great fight.
“Goulamirian is a good fighter as well, hits hard, tough dude. They’re all good fights. I’m not saying they’re shit fighters, I’m just saying I’ll fight any of them.
“Respectfully, I’m not I’m not trying to put them down and say they’re bad fighters or anything like that. What I mean there’s a lot of politics outside of the ring. I reckon these fighter would fight me. It’s just the politics and stuff so I don’t like to get involved with it.”