IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia of Australia is set to be back in the ring next Sunday night March 8th in Las Vegas, as he takes on American Brandon Glanton in a Zuffa Boxing main event. However, is that title on the line or the IBF about to strip him?
We know this: unbeaten, hard hitting IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia is returning to the ring Sunday night March 8th in Las Vegas in the Zuffa Boxing main event. What we don't know, yet, is whether the world organization is going to sanction his defense or is their version of the title about to be vacant?
On Sunday night on our "Fight Freaks Unite Podcast," insider Dan Rafael interviewed Opetaia one on one to discuss the fight and the situation in his first bout for the upstart promotion.
You can hear the full interview here,
Now, Zuffa Boxing's President/CEO Dana White has repeatedly stated that they were not only not going to work with the traditional boxing organizations, but they intend to put them out of business. Yet, here we are with a prominent IBF champion headlining in a title defense for them.
Rafael asked Opetaia directly about the point/contradiction from what he knows about Sunday night's bout,
"I don't really go back on what Dana has said. I don't want to say whether he's wrong or right or whatever... I can only speak from my experiences. They told me undisputed 'was in our goals.' They said we were going to have unification fights. You have to keep winning... but unification fights were in the talks. It was a big 'selling point' as to why I signed."
But on the point of whether the IBF has told Opetaia and his co-management team, Tazmin Fighters of Australia, whether this an official title defense for them or if he's in jeopardy of being stripped of their world title for fighting an unsanctioned bout?
Opetaia continued, "I'm pretty sure it is... I spoke to them. I told them, 'we want to fight for the IBF. I want to work with these guys.' All this outside stuff- who's arguing with who, that's not the fighters. That's not me. I'm the one fighting....I want to be undisputed. I can't do that, if the boys don't see the same goal as me."
For his part, as boxing's premier insider, Rafael said on the show Sunday night that the IBF has refused to confirm to him in multiple attempts that they are sanctioning the Zuffa main event and it's for their title. However, as he stressed, that doesn't mean that the New Jersey based organization won't work something out with their champion, and his new co-promoter, Zuffa Boxing.
As for the bout itself, Opetaia (29-0, 23 KOs), has scored several kayoes defending the IBF title, and would have already been in position to fight newly crowned WBC cruiserweight champ Noel Mikaelian with or without Zuffa Boxing.
However, the fight was made with Glanton (21-3, 18 KOs), fighting out of Georgia. He's a veteran and competent, but dropped a decision last April to England’s well-known cruiserweight contender Chris Billam-Smith. And, he's merely an opponent in the way for a possible much more important fight for Opetaia in the division.
That''s, IF all of this gets ironed out by Sunday night, etc.