\u201cIn professional boxing, sometimes the path chooses you,\u201d Nyika, who turns 31 on August 7, the day before the big fight, said. \u201cI was never going to turn down the chance to fight for the world title, even if the odds were stacked against me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly don\u2019t regret it. I believed in myself then and I believe in myself now. The opponent might be different, but the challenge is the same. I\u2019ve got to win against a quality, world-ranked fighter. That\u2019s the way it\u2019s always going to be when you\u2019re chasing world titles.<\/p>\n
This time, though, instead of stepping into the lion\u2019s den, it is Nyika who will be welcoming his foe into hostile territory.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also just the third professional appearance on home soil for Nyika since debuting on the undercard of New Zealand great Joseph Parker\u2019s victory over compatriot Junior Fa in 2021.<\/p>\n
The event is co-promoted by Duco Events and Parker\u2019s Parker Promotions and supported by Auckland Council\u2019s events arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to fight at home in Auckland was huge for me when I was establishing myself as [a] heavyweight contender so it\u2019s great to be able to help provide that same opportunity for David,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n
David Higgins of Duco Events says that \u201cKiwi boxing fans have been starved of international-quality events, so we\u2019re delighted to be bringing back not just big-time boxing \u2013 but good times and quality sporting content\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur plan was always to have David headlining huge fight nights like this at home in New Zealand. But when you get a chance to fight for a world title, you\u2019ve got to take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid knew the risk he was taking against Jai Opetaia, and he stepped up and gave it everything. It\u2019s a credit to him that he has bounced back so quickly to put himself in position to contend again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fight is somewhat of a homecoming for Nyika\u2019s rugged opponent Masson. The 34-year-old battler was born in Te Awamutu, attended Te Awamutu College and contended against the likes of David Light, Nikolas Charalampous and Sam Rapira for national titles and New Zealand Olympic team qualification as an elite amateur, before emigrating to Australia.<\/p>\n
As a pro, Masson, who fights under the Australia flag, has fought just once on New Zealand soil, defeating noted puncher Navosa \u201cSmiley\u201d Ioata by unanimous decision in 2018. To put that performance in perspective, Ioata would extend Opetaia for eight rounds less than a year later.<\/p>\n
The current IBF Pan Pacific cruiserweight champion, Masson has held the IBO cruiserweight world title and his resume includes a victory over Joseph Parker\u2019s brother John Parker.<\/p>\n
Masson\u2019s only defeats have come against Belgian Ives Ngabu and classy Polish 57-fight veteran Mateusz Masternak, a former challenger for the WBO strap who currently holds the European cruiserweight title.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Nyika is a fight I\u2019ve wanted for a long time,\u201d Masson said. \u201cAs a fellow former Waikato boy, it\u2019s pretty awesome for there to be so much on the line for both of us. The chance to win and then line up a world title fight is a dream come true for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a huge amount of respect for David \u2013 but I\u2019ve got no doubt I can and will defeat him. He\u2019s not used to fighting opponents who don\u2019t quit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s undercard includes a likely second IBF world title eliminator, with undefeated Papua New Guinean-born Kiwi Sheilla Yama (7-0) to take on a yet-to-be-announced international opponent.<\/p>\n
The show will also feature former New Zealand Warriors star Manu Vatuvei \u2013 whose promising boxing career is being managed by David \u201cBrown Buttabean\u201d Letele.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIn professional boxing, sometimes the path chooses you,\u201d Nyika, who turns 31 on August 7, the day before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64283,64,63,22806,16485,802,10959,13478,154548,1913,27854,3141,1899,329787,191,119894,87392,329788,4717,8835,13809,27855,27857,85,9501,8821,24080,1050,3605],"class_list":["post-684117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-advantage","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-been","tag-boxer","tag-boxing","tag-confirmed","tag-david","tag-eliminator","tag-fight","tag-floyd","tag-global","tag-have","tag-headlining","tag-home","tag-homecoming","tag-ibf","tag-implications","tag-in","tag-kiwi","tag-massive","tag-masson","tag-nyika","tag-sports","tag-that","tag-title","tag-today","tag-will","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684117","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=684117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}