Eddie Hearn had a definitive winner in mind when asked about the title bout between Jai Opetaia and David Nyika.
On Wednesday, January 8th, Opetaia will aim to defend his IBF world cruiserweight championship against Nyika. The bout will take place in Broadbeach, Australia, with both men fighting in front of a home crowd.
Nyika, with a professional record of 10-0, comes into the fight as a late-notice replacement. Taking the bout just three weeks ago, Opetaia’s original opponent Huseyin Cinkara withdrew due to an ankle injury.
The challenger is still relatively young in the sport of boxing, having made his debut in 2021, compared to Opetaia starting his career in 2015.
The champion earned his second title reign back in 2022. Opetaia fought and defeated Mairis Briedis with a broken jaw to earn the unanimous decision win and is looking to make a fourth defense of the title in his second reign.
Eddie Hearn not holding much hope for challenger David Nyika
When asked for his thoughts on the upcoming bout at the weigh-ins, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn did not hesitate on what he thinks might happen.
“Things can unravel real quick in there,” Hearn said. “Once Jai starts pushing it on you, and putting it on you, you have to stand there and fight. If he does that, I think this fight will be over in three rounds. I really do.”
The promoter doesn’t expect the all-Australian bout to go long, due to a combination of both Opetaia’s strengths and Nyika’s weaknesses. “I think if you’re looking at Nyika’s weaknesses, sometimes he does get hit a little bit too much.”
With 20 of his 26 wins coming by way of knockout, Opetaia has a knockout percentage of over 76% in his professional career. Meanwhile, nine of Nyika’s 10 wins have been via stoppage.
Turki Alalshikh has clear plans for Jai Opetaia
One of boxing’s most influential people Turki Alalshikh has outlined a clear goal for Opetaia as the Australian could be involved in some big fights.
As Eddie Hearn spoke on the Jai McAllister YouTube channel, he said that he and Alalshikh had come up with a unanimous plan for Opetaia. “When we sat down with Mick and Turki Alalshikh, the key was [for Opetaia] to just become undisputed. Beat Zurdo Ramirez, capture the WBC and then move up [to heavyweight]. That’s still the plan.”
There have also been talks of a return to cruiserweight for Oleksandr Usyk. This means that if Opetaia was able to unify the division, Usyk may be tempted to move back down from heavyweight.
This means that an Opetaia vs Usyk fight is not an unlikely possibility, with the pair someday potentially competing at either heavyweight or cruiserweight.
Usyk defeated Tyson Fury in December of 2024 for the second time and is expected to return in the summer of 2025.