![\"Jai](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jai.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nCaught in the crosshairs of an administrative slugfest, Jai Opetaia remains on the high road to a unification dream muddled further despite his dominant US debut.<\/p>\n
Australia’s stand-out pound-for-pound boxing No.1 improved to 30-0 with a unanimous points victory against tough Atlanta challenger Brandon Glanton in Las Vegas on Sunday (NZ time).<\/p>\n
Dominating every round, he added Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural cruiserweight strap to a collection that already included the Ring and IBF world titles.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old is set to be stripped of his IBF belt, though, after the organisation reversed the decision to sanction the bout late on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Zuffa Boxing boss and UFC supremo Dana White unloaded on the IBF after the fight, describing their conduct as unprofessional, forecasting legal action and promising to shake up a sport he thinks is broken.<\/p>\n
It was Opetaia’s eighth win since he first claimed the Ring and IBF belts in 2022, having his jaw broken in two places but still beating heavy favourite Mairis Briedis in a Gold Coast epic.<\/p>\n
But it’s the second time he’s been stripped of the IBF prize, a sad irony considering his unblinking unification attempts have been thwarted by the division’s other champions continuously ducking his advances.<\/p>\n
White, who created Zuffa to rattle boxing’s foundations, said he respected and would continue to support Opetaia’s desire to unify.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jai Opetaia | Photo: AAP<\/p>\n
The boxer, a proud Samoan-Australian, was overcome by emotion when his contingent in the crowd broke into song after the fight.<\/p>\n
He outlined his “perfect picture” of taking on WBC champion Noel Mikaelian later this year, before a clash with the winner of May’s WBO-WBA tussle between David Benavidez and Gilberto Ramirez at year’s end for all the belts.<\/p>\n
“But there’s a lot of moving parts,” Opetaia admitted of the scenario.<\/p>\n
“It’s frustrating, but I’m not sitting here and badmouthing the IBF, it’s not my style.<\/p>\n
“I broke my jaw for that belt, couldn’t eat for four months.<\/p>\n
“I’m hoping they can put the nonsense aside because the beef isn’t with me. <\/p>\n
“It’s the outside causing conflict and I’m the only one suffering.”<\/p>\n
Opetaia had already surrendered the IBF title once, for taking an unsanctioned fight with Ellis Zorro in 2023 as part of a deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom.<\/p>\n
He stopped Zorro and then immediately won it back in a May 2024 rematch with Briedis.<\/p>\n
But again the opportunities to unify never materialised and Opetaia’s camp last year severed ties with Hearn.<\/p>\n
Opetaia is confident the bullish White, who is backed at Zuffa by co-founder and Saudi adviser Turki Alalshikh, will have more success.<\/p>\n
“The profile’s building, the momentum,” Opetaia told reporters at the UFC’s Meta Apex on Sunday night. <\/p>\n
“These are the things that can get them over the line and … part of the reason I signed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caught in the crosshairs of an administrative slugfest, Jai Opetaia remains on the high road to a unification…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-529429","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\/529429","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=529429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}