offered to bankroll an IBF heavyweight title eliminator between Opetaia and Great Britain\u2019s Derek Chisora<\/a>.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1756769048_562_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
However before moving up in weight, Opetaia wants to become undisputed cruiserweight king.<\/p>\n
A decision which means right now waiting for Gilberto \u2018Zurdo\u2019 Ramirez, who holds both the WBO and WBA straps, to return from his enforced lay-off following shoulder surgery.<\/p>\n
Should he defeat Ramirez, the Central Coast native then wants whoever holds the WBC strap, which is currently Badou Jack.<\/p>\n
While Opetaia would also be willing to fight for the WBC strap immediately, Jack has already agreed to terms for a WBC-ordered rematch with Noel Mikaelian.<\/p>\n
So in the absence of any unification opportunity, Opetaia must instead put his belt on the line against Cinkara (23-0) \u2014 with Francis saying this week that a November showcase was being discussed for cities including Gold Coast, Perth, and Townsville.<\/p>\n
Jai Opetaia of Australia. Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
In a statement provided by Tasman Fighters, Opetaia said: \u201cI\u2019m already deep in preparation and ready to put on another exciting show.<\/p>\n
\u201cCinkara is unbeaten and dangerous, but this is my time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been calling for unifications but the other champions don\u2019t seem to want it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, I have to take care of Cinkara \u2014 and then we keep chasing those belts.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing\u2019s for sure, the titles are staying in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn told BoxingScene: \u201cJai Opetaia has proven himself as an elite world champion and a global star.<\/p>\n
\u201cFacing an undefeated challenger like Cinkara shows the kind of fighter he is \u2014 always ready to take on the biggest threats. This is a fight the world will be watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Opetaia has no problem taking the Cinkara fight, his team had been keener to build their client\u2019s profile in the UK market \u2013 starting by taking on, and beating, former cruiserweight champ Billam-Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we have had discussions about Chris Billam-Smith in December,\u201d Francis said this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would potentially be on the Benn-Eubank Jnr card.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, while waiting for Zurdo, Jai wants the biggest fights he can get in the division.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that when it comes to cruiserweights, it\u2019s Jai Opetaia first and daylight second.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about whispers of six-figure step aside money, Francis confirmed it saying: \u201cWe want to get Jai the biggest fights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already this year, Opetaia has knocked out David Nyika within four rounds, then broke the jaw of Italy\u2019s Claudio Squeo in June.<\/p>\n
Cinkara was initially scheduled to challenge Opetaia in January, but broke his ankle in training and was forced to withdraw.<\/p>\n
That gave Nyika the opportunity to be parachuted into a Trans-Tasman showdown.<\/p>\n
Cinkara, meanwhile, became the mandatory challenger following a second-round stoppage win over Armend Xhoxhaj in April 2024.<\/p>\n
His latest in-ring appearance was this past April, when he stopped Juan Diaz in the first round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jai Opetaia has declared himself ready to earn a third straight highlight reel defence in Australia this year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-114876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114876","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=114876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}