Despite a standing order to defend his WBC cruiserweight title against David Benavidez, Noel Mikaelian will meet Jai Opetaia in the co-feature of Zuffa Boxing\u2019s Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn show in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge card, and I look forward to showing the world once again why I\u2019m the best cruiserweight on the planet,\u201d Opetaia said. \u201cCredit to Noel for stepping up to the plate while others \u2014 yes, David Benavidez, I\u2019m talking about you \u2014 continue to run and hide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a massive fight for Jai, and it\u2019s refreshing to see a top-tier cruiserweight step forward when so many continue to avoid the challenge,\u201d said Mick Francis, Opetaia\u2019s longtime manager. \u201cHe\u2019s proud to defend the Zuffa Boxing and Ring titles on the biggest stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I step into the ring on September 12 against Jai Opetaia in Las Vegas, I intend to defend my world championship. This is the fight I\u2019ve wanted since becoming a two-time world champion, and I\u2019m ready to deliver,\u201d Mikaelian said. \u201cI haven\u2019t fought since December 2025 because of circumstances outside of my control. I refused to stay inactive. Champions are meant to defend their titles, and that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m prepared to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s certainly a better matchup than the Glanton fight that kicked off this whole debacle in the first place. but I personally would not put any stake in this happening. Mikaelian (28-3, 12 KO) is under contract with Don King, who remains as vexatiously litigant as ever and has a long history of quashing any attempt by his fighters to compete outside of his purview<\/a>. Dan Rafael reports<\/a> that King, who\u2019d reached a deal with Benavidez promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, will follow his usual M.O. and \u201clikely\u201d file suit.<\/p>\n \u201dMy job has always been to put Noel in the best position to succeed. More than 60 days after Noel vs. David Benavidez was ordered, we still haven\u2019t received a bona fide offer. Noel wasn\u2019t going to sit on the sidelines any longer,\u201d said Anthony Girges, Mikaelian\u2019s advisor. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about two champions in Noel and Opetaia. It\u2019s about protecting the integrity of the sport and making the fights the fans deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n This is why you give deadlines for purse bids, Mauricio.<\/p>\n Anyway, Michal Cieslak still holds the interim title he won by smashing a geriatric Jean Pascal more than a year ago; no telling whether he\u2019ll receive an upgrade or step in to fight Benavidez for what\u2019s likely to be a vacant belt within the next few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a standing order to defend his WBC cruiserweight title against David Benavidez, Noel Mikaelian will meet Jai…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,85],"class_list":["post-843740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843740","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=843740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}