It’s Australia vs New Zealand this Wednesday at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, as Jai Opetaia defends his IBF cruiserweight title against former amateur standout David Nyika.
Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, Mick Francis’ Tasman Fighters and Spencer Brown’s Goldstar promote Opetaia vs Nyika, with DAZN televising live worldwide.
Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) came of age in July 2022, when he took an unexpected, but superb points win against Mairis Briedis to take the IBF crown, and he made one defence, blowing away Jordan Thompson at Wembley Arena over a year later.
The 29-year-old southpaw would then be stripped of his title after choosing to take on the overmatched Ellis Zorro at the back end of 2023, and the IBF were proven right with the Brit blasted out in less than a round in Riyadh.
The Australian would be given the chance to contest the vacant title a fight later, and in a rematch against Breidis, Opetaia again prevailed, again in a breathless unanimous verdict.
The Aussie was last out in October 2024, overwhelming Jack Massey before Massey’s corner threw the towel in during round six.
He now meets New Zealand native, Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs), a two-time Commonwealth games champion, and Olympic Bronze medallist as an amateur.
As a professional, he has made solid progress, only going the distance once.
The 28-year-old is on a run of seven straight early wins, the last a third round stoppage against former world title challenger, Tommy Karpency in Auckland in September.
Prediction: I think Nyika will give Opetaia a decent argument here, despite his lack of professional experience. I think Opetaia will retain his belt though, likely on the scorecards.
Huni faces Potgieter
The undercard sees promising heavyweight, Justis Huni defending his WBO Global and IBF Pan Pacific titles against Shaun Potgieter over a scheduled ten.
Huni (11-0, 6 KOs) is a man making waves, and already holds decision wins over Andrew Tabiti and Kevin Lerena, with his last fight coming last month, a two round blowout of Leandro Daniel Robutti.
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South Africa’s Potgeiter (10-1, 7 KOs) is on a run of seven straight wins, and is the South African champion, but has never fought outside of his homeland.
Prediction: Huni has impressed to date, and he can continue his strong run here with a stoppage win.
Remaining Undercard
Max McIntyre (6-0, 5 KOs) can take the vacant IBF Youth super middleweight title by halting Abdulselam Saman (8-1, 1 KO), and Ben Mahoney (14-0-1, 8 KOs) can clinch the vacant IBF Pan Pacific super welterweight title via the same method against Fan Zhang (8-2-1, 5 KOs).
The other ten rounder should see a points win for Tayla Gentzen (6-0, 3 KOs) against Shauna Browne (4-0, 3 KOs), and in the sole eight rounder, Tony Ingram (6-0, 3 KOs) can outscore Runqi Zhou (8-2-1, 3 KOs).
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Exciting heavyweight Teremoana Teremoana (5-0, 5 KOs) gets a run out over a scheduled six and he should win early against Osasu Otobo (11-1-1, 5 KOs).
In four rounders, light heavyweight novice Billy McAllister (2-0, 2 KOs) can take a stoppage win over Jordan Towns (2-2, 1 KO), and Kodi Shallali (1-1) can take victory on the cards against Albert Tu’ua (1-1).
Jai Williams can win the battle of the debutants against Jag Guthmann-Chester on points.
