From there, the 30-year-old southpaw then wants to face whoever holds the WBC strap, which right now is Badou Jack.<\/p>\n
However, Fox Sports Australia can reveal Opetaia is now being urged by no less than His Excellency Al-Sheikh to make an immediate move up, with discussions already in place for UK favourite Chisora.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755550689_238_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Promoter Eddie Hearn has also suggested his client could also move up after his next defence.<\/p>\n
Speaking this week, Opetaia\u2019s manager Mick Francis confirmed the interest in his client \u2013 who remains undefeated through 10 years and 28 fights \u2013 making the move to heavyweight immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve spoken with Turki \u2013 he wants Jai at heavyweight now,\u201d Francis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if that were to happen, he\u2019d go straight into number three with the IBF.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also an opportunity there to fight Chisora \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to expand, Francis continued: \u201cI\u2019ve spoken with the IBF and said \u2018if Jai goes up, where would you put him?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they\u2019ve told me he would go straight to number three in their rankings.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurki Al-Sheikh also wants to make that fight with Chisora.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken with Queensberry too, and they\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows that fight would be massive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere would be plenty of interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough I\u2019d hate to think how much money Chisora would want, because he\u2019s going to get hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d be no match for Opetaia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Jai would hurt him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich is incredible to think about because you win and immediately become the mandatory for the IBF heavyweight crown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ismaili quits after Tszyu demolition | 01:23<\/p>\n
Yet despite the enticing offer, Francis insists his client wants to first become undisputed king.<\/p>\n
After initially winning both the IBF and Ring titles in 2021 \u2013 defeating Mairis Briedis with a jaw broken in two places \u2013 Opetaia has since spent fours years trying to add further straps to his collection.<\/p>\n
Most recently, the Aussie has been chasing a unification showdown with \u2018Zurdo\u2019 Ramirez.<\/p>\n
However, any potential bout has again now been delayed as the Mexican superstar continues to recover from shoulder surgery. <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, fellow champ Jack has been forced into a WBC title rematch with Noel Mikaelyan, who he earned a contentious majority decision win against in May.<\/p>\n
All of which means Opetaia will now have to defend at least once more in November, and possibly twice, before finally getting a chance to fight for the other three belts in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Jai wants to be undisputed cruiserweight champion before moving up,\u201d Francis insisted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to be remembered as one of the greatest cruiserweights who ever lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys like Evander Holyfield, David Haye and now Oleksandr Usyk, they are some really big names who started out in the cruiserweight division before moving up to also have massive impact as heavyweights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Jai wants to do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t all about money and titles for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about legacy.<\/p>\n
Jai Opetaia.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd winning every belt in the cruiserweight division while staying undefeated, and then moving into heavyweight \u2026 that\u2019s the start of how you\u2019re spoken about for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis added that Opetaia could win all the cruiserweight belts in 2026, before then moving to heavyweight \u2013 and an immediate shot against someone like undefeated British prodigy Moses Itauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cJai could absolutely go straight into that fight,\u201d Francis said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s definitely one he would take.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut first, he wants Ramirez.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoesn\u2019t care where it is, or on what show, Jai Opetaia wants that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on The Punch Podcast this past week however, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn suggested there was a chance Opetaia may have to move to heavyweight before achieving his goal of cruiserweight domination.<\/p>\n
Already this year, the Australian has made quick work of the previously unbeaten David Nyika and Claudio Squeo \u2014 stopping both before the sixth round.<\/p>\n
Hearn agreed 40-year-old Cinkara (23-0, 19 KOs) will likely get his shot after being reordered to negotiate terms earlier this fortnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, Ramirez got injured and now Jai has to fight his mandatory,\u201d Hearn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not ideal.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the other option is to move up to heavyweight \u2026 (and) I just feel like it would be a shame for him not to unify the division first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pushed on how things play out, the Matchroom boss continued: \u201cI think we\u2019ll fight Cinkara around November, December time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t get a unification after that, then it might be time to step up to heavyweight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be a little earlier than anticipated, but you can\u2019t just wait around forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jai Opetaia has been offered a blockbuster heavyweight showdown against Great Britain\u2019s Derek Chisora \u2013\u2014 with billionaire Saudi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[1724,64,63,689,73286,73285,802,1920,73287,73295,28352,73289,11079,28949,73293,9915,26490,73296,52498,73288,11081,73294,673,2782,11876,73291,677,11762,73292,30382,85,670,5942,73290,940,73298,73297,73283,73284,12000,27650],"class_list":["post-100733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-badou-jack","tag-blockbuster-heavyweight-showdown","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-contentious-majority-decision","tag-cruiserweight-belts","tag-cruiserweight-division","tag-cruiserweight-domination","tag-darren-till","tag-david-haye","tag-david-nyika","tag-eddie-hearn","tag-evander-holyfield","tag-heavyweight-crown","tag-heavyweight-fight","tag-heavyweight-world","tag-luke-rockhold","tag-mick-francis","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-nikita-tszyu","tag-noel-mikaelyan","tag-oceania","tag-ramirez","tag-shock-heavyweight","tag-shoulder-surgery","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-tim-tszyu","tag-title-rematch","tag-turkey","tag-undefeated-british-prodigy","tag-undisputed-cruiserweight","tag-undisputed-cruiserweight-king","tag-unification-showdown","tag-western-asia","tag-world-title-eliminator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}