Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\nHow new training regime changed Tszyu | 07:46<\/p>\n
Early on Monday morning, IBF officials confirmed Opetaia had been stripped in a letter that was quickly circulated by US boxing media.<\/p>\n
Back in 2023, the Aussie was also stripped of his IBF crown after receiving a \u201ccareer high\u201d payday from Turki al-Sheikh to fight on an Anthony Joshua undercard.<\/p>\n
Instead of taking his mandatory rematch with Maris Briedis, Opetaia instead fought, and beat, Ellis Zorro \u2013 before then regaining his vacant strap six months later.<\/p>\n
Now this latest IBF decision comes only weeks after the big punching southpaw claimed the inaugural Zuffa cruiserweight crown.<\/p>\n
Headlining for the first time in Las Vegas, Opetaia left American rival Brandon Glanton so battered in their March 9 championship bout, the challenger\u2019s iPhone facial ID feature failed to unlock for several days.<\/p>\n
While Team Opetaia had expected the IBF would allow their fighter to keep his crown, and pursue his dream of becoming undisputed champ, the sanctioning body has instead stripped the belt.<\/p>\n
Why is Tim Tszyu taking this fight?! | 02:00<\/p>\n
The decision is due to them not recognizing the Zuffa crown that was at stake against Glanton<\/p>\n
Initially, the IBF withdrew its sanction just days before the Las Vegas bout, however the Australian\u2019s team had expected their man to still keep the strap.<\/p>\n
That hasn\u2019t happened<\/p>\n
\u201cOn March 19, 2026, the IBF Board of Directors met via teleconference to address the status of the IBF Cruiserweight title held by Jai Opetaia,\u201d the IBF revealed. \u201cAt the conclusion of the meeting, the Board voted to vacate the title pursuant to Rule 5.H.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rule 5.H. states: \u201cAn Unsanctioned Contest is a fight which the IBF has not formally approved for sanction or where sanction has been formally withdrawn. If a Champion participates in an unsanctioned contest within his prescribed weight limit, the title will be declared vacant whether the Champion wins or loses the bout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fighting for the inaugural Zuffa cruiserweight title, Opetaia defeated Glanton by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 119-106.<\/p>\n
When signing on with White\u2019s new boxing promotion \u2013 which has its own Zuffa championship belts — Opetaia had expressed his desire to not only keep the IBF title, but also pursue the WBA, WBC and WBO belt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Jai Opetaia has been sensationally stripped of the IBF title \u2013 and for a second time \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,64,276240,63,689,802,276244,187409,1920,2806,276245,41977,276242,28367,276248,276241,193431,958,276238,276239,11464,2623,2627,2782,2041,2067,677,61495,276247,276243,219493,2784,85,2801,273662,5942,276246,2614],"class_list":["post-559800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-america","tag-au","tag-aussie-boxing-superstar","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-media","tag-boxing-promotion","tag-boxing-news","tag-central-coast","tag-championship-belts","tag-championship-bout","tag-championship-strap","tag-controversial-decision","tag-cruiserweight-championship-fight","tag-cruiserweight-crown","tag-cruiserweight-title","tag-dana-white","tag-ellis-zorro","tag-errol-spencer","tag-keith-thurman","tag-las-vegas","tag-nevada","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-poster-boy","tag-prescribed-weight-limit","tag-punching-southpaw","tag-ring-looking","tag-sebastian-fundora","tag-sports","tag-tasmania","tag-teremoana-teremoana","tag-tim-tszyu","tag-unification-dream","tag-united-states-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559800","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=559800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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