Her opponent was just announced as Australian boxer Jessica Messina.<\/p>\n
They will fight for the IBF international super lightweight title.<\/p>\n
Yama holds an undefeated record of seven wins and is ranked second in IBF, fifth on Boxrec, 10th in WBA, 11th in WBO and 13th in WBC.<\/p>\n
Sheilla Yama will take on Jessica Messina on the David Nyika v Floyd Masson fight. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Messina, who has a pro record of eight wins and one loss, is a two-division Australian national champion, holding titles in the welterweight and super lightweight divisions.<\/p>\n
She is ranked fourth in IBF, fourth in WBO, 11th on Boxrec and 12th in WBC.<\/p>\n
Messina also has a significant amateur boxing history, having fought at the 2018 AIBA Women\u2019s World Championships, reaching the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
The winner of the fight is also expected to be ranked first in the IBF, putting them in a position to be next in line for a world title shot.<\/p>\n
The current champion, Ireland\u2019s Katie Taylor, is due to retire after her fight against French boxer Flora Pili in September.<\/p>\n
If Taylor wins with all the world title belts, they will all be declared vacant, but if Pili wins, Yama or Messina, depending on who wins the fight in August, will have to take on Pili for the world title.<\/p>\n
Co-main event<\/p>\n
The biggest fight on the undercard is Hemi Ahio v Kiki Toa Leutele, which has been announced as the co-main event.<\/p>\n
Ahio, out of Auckland\u2019s City Kickboxing Gym, has an impressive record of 24 wins and one loss, with 18 wins by knockout.<\/p>\n
Hemi Ahio will fight Kiki Toa Leutele. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
He has travelled the world fighting in Australia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where he won the WBC Middle East heavyweight title.<\/p>\n
Ahio\u2019s biggest win was against former WBA world heavyweight champion Lucas Browne in 2024, when he stopped him in the first round.<\/p>\n
He last fought in March last year, where he stopped Aekkaphob Auraiwan in the first round.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Leutele, out of Auckland\u2019s Peach Boxing Gym, has a record of 12 wins, two losses and one draw, with eight wins by way of knockout.<\/p>\n
Leutele is also a New Zealand national (Pro Box NZ version) heavyweight champion.<\/p>\n
He last fought in March 2024, when he defeated Australian boxer Arsene Fosso by unanimous decision.<\/p>\n
Fosso will also fight on the undercard, taking on Nyika\u2019s gym partner Alex Leapai Jnr, of Australia.<\/p>\n
David Nyika and Floyd Masson will fight an IBF Cruiserweight World Title eliminator in August. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Leutele had multiple fights lined up in Australia this year, but all opponents ended up pulling out, so he said he was looking forward to fighting Ahio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in the sport to fight the best fighters. Hemi is one of the best in New Zealand, and now we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahio said Leutele was a great opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s tough, he\u2019s durable, he\u2019s been around, he\u2019s had a lot of good wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The David Nyika v Floyd Masson fight is delivered by Parker Promotions, run by former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, and Duco Events.<\/p>\n
Parker said boxing fans were in for an incredible night.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got experienced fighters, rising contenders and some seriously entertaining matchups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parker and Masson have a bit of history, as Masson took on Parker\u2019s brother, John, for the IBF Pan Pacific cruiserweight title last year.<\/p>\n
Masson won the fight by seventh-round TKO (technical knockout).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know … I told my brother not to take that fight, he lost … [but] he gave it his best effort,\u201d Joseph told the Waikato Herald.<\/p>\n
While there were no bad feelings, Joseph wanted to see Nyika win instead of Masson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met Masson, he is a nice guy.<\/p>\n
\u201c[But] I\u2019m a lot closer to Nyika, and I want to see his journey progress and see him make good fights and make it to the top level.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s safe to say Joseph Parker will also want to see his brother succeed.<\/p>\n
John has been named on the undercard. He will take on Nikolas Charalampous.<\/p>\n
The David Nyika v Floyd Masson fight takes place at Auckland\u2019s Eventfinda Stadium, on August 8. Tickets are on sale now at Eventfinda.<\/p>\n
The event will also be broadcast live on PPV with TVNZ+.<\/p>\n
Full card <\/p>\n
subject to change<\/p>\n
David Nyika v Floyd Masson<\/p>\n
IBF cruiserweight world title eliminator<\/p>\n
12×3 min rounds<\/p>\n
Hemi Ahio v Kiki Toa Leutele<\/p>\n
Heavyweight<\/p>\n
10×3 min rounds<\/p>\n
Sheilla Yama v Jessica Messina<\/p>\n
IBF international super lightweight title<\/p>\n
10×2 min rounds<\/p>\n
Manu Vatuvei vs Rene Ranger<\/p>\n
Heavyweight<\/p>\n
4×3 min rounds<\/p>\n
John Parker vs Nik Charalampous<\/p>\n
Cruiserweight<\/p>\n
6×3 min rounds<\/p>\n
Alex Leapai Jr v Arsene Fosso<\/p>\n
Heavyweight<\/p>\n
6×3 min rounds<\/p>\n
Cassidy Thornberry v Ross Malthus<\/p>\n
Super welterweight<\/p>\n
4×3 min rounds<\/p>\n
Liam Messam vs Luke Siaki<\/p>\n
Heavyweight<\/p>\n
4×3 min rounds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe reason why I fight is … cause I can\u2019t play any more… Boxing gives me that kick.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[362536,64,2347,63,9658,802,9659,5386,13478,154548,1913,27854,21694,362535,15448,27855,323810,27857,15624,33509,2975,85,8821,319,7431,1720],"class_list":["post-758311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-ahio","tag-au","tag-august","tag-australia","tag-blacks","tag-boxing","tag-captain","tag-chiefs","tag-david","tag-eliminator","tag-fight","tag-floyd","tag-former","tag-hemi","tag-liam","tag-masson","tag-messam","tag-nyika","tag-player","tag-returns","tag-ring","tag-sports","tag-title","tag-to","tag-undercard","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758311","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=758311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}