{"id":525000,"date":"2026-03-07T16:35:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T16:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/525000\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T16:35:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T16:35:16","slug":"boxing-news-2026-jai-opetaia-v-brandon-glanton-fight-zuffa-boxing-low-ball-pay-accusations-mick-francis-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/525000\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing news 2026 | Jai Opetaia v Brandon Glanton fight, Zuffa boxing low ball pay accusations, Mick Francis comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eagle-eyed fans noticed something was off during Jai Opetaia<\/a>‘s face-off with Brandon Glanton ahead of their fight on Monday (AEDT).<\/p>\n

Opetaia did not have the IBF title with him during the media gathering but the ZUFFA title belt was there for all to be seen.<\/p>\n

The Australian is ‘The Ring’ and IBF champion<\/a> but there has been chatter in the lead up to Sunday’s bout that the IBF may pull the belt from the contest.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Filthy Broncos fans break out in chant over baffling call<\/a><\/p>\n

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World Boxing News reports the IBF asked Opetaia to decide whether he will defend its cruiserweight title or compete for the new Zuffa Boxing belt.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia was at the face off without his IBF belt.\u00a0Facebook<\/p>\n

The sanctioning body reportedly informed Opetaia’s team that its championship cannot appear on the same fight as the Zuffa belt, which requires the Australian champion to choose which title will be attached to Sunday’s bout.<\/p>\n

However, Opetaia’s manager Mick Francis of Tasman Fighters rejected that claim, telling Wide World of Sports Opetaia will fight for all three belts.<\/p>\n

“Unless someone knows that that we don’t know, Jai was always gonna fight for all three titles,” Francis said.<\/p>\n

“There’s nothing being said to us that he’s not.<\/p>\n

“The issue is you’ve got a couple of guys on social media pages saying different things, and it’s all clickbait.<\/p>\n

\"Jai<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia punches Huseyin Cinkara during the IBF & Ring Magazine Cruiserweight World Title bout.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“As far as we’re concerned we’re fighting for all the titles.<\/p>\n

“Nobody has told us that we’re not fighting for any titles.”<\/p>\n

While the report is adamant the IBF stated Opetaia must choose between Zuffa and their belt, the IBF told the publication: “The IBF is not making any public statements regarding this bout at the moment. We will be in touch once we move forward with a statement.”<\/p>\n

Francis claims these kinds of reports have been out about Opetaia ever since he signed with Zuffa for three years.<\/p>\n

The Australian was formerly with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom but opted to jump ship, claiming promises of unification bouts were not met.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Eddie Hearn, Chairman of Matchroom Sport.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing has faced criticism because it wants to mirror the UFC model in boxing, which has set off alarm bells among the sport’s promoters.<\/p>\n

Some of the bigger players like Golden Boy and Hearn’s Matchroom have been on the offensive, doing their utmost to warn fighters of the potential losses they face if they sign with Zuffa.<\/p>\n

According to reports, fighters receive about 20 per cent of the revenue in the UFC, which pales in comparison to most sporting leagues, and is a fraction of what the biggest earners in boxing can make.<\/p>\n

Francis said claims Zuffa’s pay model does not offer much to fighters is “a beat up.”<\/p>\n

“I respect Eddie Hearn. He’s an amazing promoter. But he got his nose out of joint because Jai went across to Zuffa. Jai’s never been under contract to Eddie as far as a promotional deal,” Francis said.<\/p>\n

“He only ever signed a bad agreement with a one fight option. That’s all he’s ever signed with Matchroom, and that concluded years ago.<\/p>\n

“Eddie had his opportunities to give Jai these fights and Zuffa has come along and the money’s good.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Turki Al-Sheikh poses with UFC President Dana White.\u00a0TKO Worldwide LLC via Getty Imag<\/p>\n

“There’s no question about the money, the money’s great. It’s more so the opportunities for Jai to do what he wants to do in boxing.<\/p>\n

“Eddie did have his nose out of joint a little bit and he’s gone on the rampage and rallied the troops and started saying that these boxers are getting this X amount of dollars.<\/p>\n

“I’ll be completely honest, the money for these fighters is good money. But I would suggest that it’s much more than the UFC fighters.<\/p>\n

“You gotta remember they’re trying to build a league too. They’re trying to attract fighters to come across to a brand new league.<\/p>\n

“Of course the money’s gonna be good. I don’t think it’s that far apart, I’ll be completely honest.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia poses after victory in his IBF cruiserweight title bout.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Francis said Opetaia wanted to sign with Zuffa because they provided a clearer path to becoming undisputed champion.<\/p>\n

The upcoming bout between David Benavidez and Gilberto Ramirez will play a pivotal role, with Zuffa banking on Benavidez winning to set up a clash with the Aussie.<\/p>\n

Ramirez is promoted by Golden Boy while Sampson Lewkowicz takes care of Benavidez. Benavidez is said to be receptive to a bout with Opetaia, while Ramirez has always overpriced himself during negotiations.<\/p>\n

“These guys have done everything that they said they’re gonna do as far as we’re aware. They said that you can unify the title,” Francis said of Zuffa.<\/p>\n

“I’m sure they’re going to stick to their word because Dana White is the type of guy that does stick to his word.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen the way he treats it, especially the older UFC fighters, the guys, that were there at the start, he’s very loyal.<\/p>\n

“If Dana White tells Jai he’s gonna fight for all three titles, I assume that Jai gets the opportunity to fight for all three titles.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eagle-eyed fans noticed something was off during Jai Opetaia‘s face-off with Brandon Glanton ahead of their fight on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-525000","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\/525000","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=525000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}