Boxing is considered one of the toughest sports in the world not only because of its violent nature, but also due to the sacrifices that must be made to reach the top.
The cruiserweight division is currently dominated by three men, though only two of them have fought in recently.
Jai Opetaia, Gilberto Ramirez, and Badou Jack sit at the top of the division, but one of these men spoke on the struggles it took to get there, admitting it took a long time before he saw any money from boxing.
Jai Opetaia speaks on financially struggling before world title contest
In his appearance on Mark Bouris’ podcast, ‘Straight Talk’, reigning cruiserweight champion Opetaia spoke on the financial struggles of being a boxer, and said:
“I honestly think I was 19-0 before I got my first paycheck.”
Opetaia’s 20th fight, the first he was paid for, was against Daniel Russell in 2021, and was just one fight before Opetaia defeated Mairis Briedis, Usyk’s toughest foe, to claim the IBF world title.
Opetaia, who showed his kickboxing skills recently, continued: “This is what a lot of fighters don’t understand these days is they see the big dollars and […] they just ask for too much straight away but they need to invest in themselves.”
“My whole paychecks were just going towards getting on the card for a long time. […] I was getting f—— peanuts.”
Opetaia, who wants the Ramirez unification, is set to face 17-0 Claudio Squeo in May, after stopping 10-0 David Nyika in his latest outing.
Jai Opetaia became known after this brutal knockout victory
Despite beating Briedis, who called out Jake Paul with a diss track and tattoo, Opetaia was still relatively unknown, that is until he fought rising British prospect Jordan Thompson.
Thompson at the time was 15-0 but had never faced anyone on the level of Opetaia, which showed when the pair shared the ring.
Opetaia, who fought through a broken jaw against Briedis, dropped in the third round and again in the fourth, and stopped the Brit in dominant fashion later that round.
It was this knockout that began a string of victories which garnered the Aussie a multitude of fans. Opetaia followed the win with a first-round KO of another Brit – Ellis Zorro, while Thompson hasn’t fought since the loss.