{"id":867126,"date":"2026-08-24T21:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867126\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:38:12","slug":"boxing-news-2026-jai-opetaia-exclusive-interview-noel-mikaelian-zuffa-fight-david-benavidez-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867126\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing news 2026: Jai Opetaia exclusive interview, Noel Mikaelian Zuffa fight, David Benavidez rumours,"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie boxing<\/a> star Jai Opetaia<\/a> has sent a clear message to David Benavidez, as the undefeated world champion prepares for another huge fight \u2013 all while juggling ongoing legal battles that are \u201cadding fuel to the fire\u201d.<\/p>\n

Opetaia has cemented himself as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet, tearing through the cruiserweight division and leaving a pile of bodies in his wake with 23 knockouts from his perfect 30-0 professional record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia is an undefeated world champion. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old has captured both The Ring and IBF belts at cruiserweight during his rise to the top, continuing to mount his case for undisputed status.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Opetaia signed with Zuffa Boxing<\/a> \u2013 the promotion run by UFC<\/a> supremo Dana White<\/a> \u2013 and is set to face WBC champ Noel Mikaelian on a huge Las Vegas card next month, headlined by Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn.<\/p>\n

The showdown with Mikaelian is another huge test for Opetaia and while he will have the eyes of the boxing world on him at T-Mobile Arena, the tough Central Coast product heads in as the overwhelming favourite with bookmakers. <\/p>\n

Given most are expecting Opetaia to emerge victorious, the name that continues to be linked with him is American superstar Benavidez, who holds both the WBC and WBA championships and is seen as one of the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth between the two camps has been ongoing for some time, with Opetaia claiming Benavidez had \u201crun and hide\u201d from the bout.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Benavidez\u2019s father took to social media to reveal his Instagram messages with Turki Alalshikh, the cashed-up co-founder of Zuffa, about getting the fight with Opetaia secured for May 2027 on the Cinco de Mayo holiday.<\/p>\n

Speaking to nine.com.au this week, Opetaia said his stance hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I am ready for that fight and I\u2019ve been ready for a long time \u2013 whenever they\u2019re ready, just let me know,\u201d a defiant Opetaia said.<\/p>\n

The constant speculation about a potential blockbuster with Benavidez is only the tip of the iceberg of what Opetaia has had to contend with outside the ring. <\/p>\n

After putting pen to paper with Zuffa and stepping foot into their ring for the first time, Opetaia had his IBF title stripped due to claims his clash with Brandon Glanton wasn\u2019t sanctioned<\/a> by the governing body. <\/p>\n

As a result, Opetaia and his team have filed legal proceedings against the IBF<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia speaks at a Zuffa media event. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Despite the external noise and dramas \u2013 plenty of which is out of his control \u2013 Opetaia continues to shrug it off and stay focused.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never-ending on our side,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cCourt cases and getting stripped, I\u2019ve had promoters f—ing rip me off. There\u2019s a lot that happens that you don\u2019t see as well, you only see parts of it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you, it\u2019s another day in the office for me. It\u2019s all adding fuel to the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just keep pushing forward and aiming for our goals and training hard and winning fights, the rest will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opetaia will square off with Mikaelian on Sunday, September 13 (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie boxing star Jai Opetaia has sent a clear message to David Benavidez, as the undefeated world champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-867126","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\/867126","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=867126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}