{"id":41353,"date":"2025-08-02T08:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T08:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/41353\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T08:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T08:04:09","slug":"with-paul-gallen-gone-and-tim-tszyu-fading-australian-boxing-needs-a-new-hero-jai-opetaia-is-the-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/41353\/","title":{"rendered":"With Paul Gallen gone and Tim Tszyu fading, Australian boxing needs a new hero. Jai Opetaia is the man."},"content":{"rendered":"

The only other man to have beaten Briedis is the great Oleksandr Usyk, via a controversial points decision, before he went up a division and became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s top promoter, Eddie Hearn, believes Opetaia is the only man capable of dethroning Usyk. Opetaia plans to do just that, but wants to clean out the cruiserweight division first. And also collect the belts in bridgerweight division on his way up.<\/p>\n

\"Jai<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia knocks down David Nyika in January to retain his IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight world title.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, if [the Usyk] fight did come around, I\u2019d take it straight away,\u201d Opetaia said. \u201cObviously I\u2019m chasing undisputed [cruiserweight champion status], but a fight like that, that\u2019s a no-brainer. Of course I would do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a legacy on its own. It\u2019s all just talk \u2013 he said, she said stuff. Until I see a contract in front of me, I will stick to my guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I become undisputed, I will fight whoever, wherever. I\u2019m just chasing undisputed as a cruiserweight, and once I tick that box, whoever wants it can get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Opetaia is toiling away in relative anonymity in his homeland. That\u2019s because the focus has instead been on the likes of Paul Gallen, the former Sharks and NSW captain, who earned a controversial points decision against rival Sonny Bill Williams<\/a>. Or the fading Tim Tszyu, whose career is again at the crossroads after losing his third fight<\/a> in four starts, against WBC super-welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Gallen earned a controversial victory over Sonny Bill Williams.Credit: Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n

The Gallen-Williams fight was a decade in the making and punters lapped it up; it was the most purchased fight ever shown on Stan.<\/p>\n

But Gallen has now retired, Williams is expected to do likewise and Tszyu\u2019s star has faded after three humbling world title losses. Other drawcards, including Anthony Mundine and Jeff Horn, have left a once thriving local scene, while the lustre has come off the likes of George Kambosos, Justis Huni, Liam Wilson and Harry Garside at a time when $70 is the asking price to tune into most cards on Stan or Foxtel\u2019s Main Event.<\/p>\n

Just as boxing fans were asking themselves whether any local is worth that investment, something seismic happened on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

Turki Al-Sheikh, the billionaire Saudi Arabian promoter, announced that his promotions shown on DAZN \u2013 including the upcoming blockbuster between Terence Crawford and Saul \u201cCanelo\u201d Alvarez \u2013 would no longer be pay-per-view events.<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

Tim Tszyu finished the rematch against Sebastian Fundora on his stool.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

The move could totally disrupt the way big events are consumed. In a bid to boost subscriptions and thwart piracy, Al-Sheikh has blown up the model. From now on, punters can get all the offerings from DAZN \u2013 which recently acquired Foxtel \u2013 from $14.95 a month.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the sport here appears headed towards a decline: Tszyu is becoming a hard sell; brother Nikita is yet to prove himself as world class; former undisputed lightweight world champion Kambosos has lost four of his past six fights; heavyweight Huni was knocked out in his last outing; Wilson may struggle to get another world title shot; ditto boxing brothers Andew and Jason Moloney.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Olympian Garside is generating more headlines outside the ring than in it, Brock Jarvis was humbled by Keith Thurman, while Liam Paro is trying to position himself for another title shot after losing to IBF super-lightweight champion Richardson Hitchins, who may have recently ended Kambosos\u2019 career in their last fight.<\/p>\n

There are others on the local scene showing promise, including Demsey McKean, Conor Wallace, Alex Leapai jnr, Paulo Aokuso, Kris Terzievski and Teremoana Teremoana. There\u2019s even talk of the sons of Anthony Mundine and Danny Green \u2013 Rahim \u201cCJ\u201d Mundine and Archie Green \u2013 facing off in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a similar style to his dad; I\u2019ve got a similar style to my dad,\u201d said CJ Mundine after knocking out Joe Vatusaqata in their super-middleweight clash on the Gallen-Williams undercard last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows what goes on when that happens. It would be like Conor Benn and Chris Eubank jnr, an Australian version.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, there are fewer marketable local boxers now than there were five years ago. Which brings us back to Opetaia. The 30-year-old\u2019s next fight is likely to be a mandatory defence against Huseyin Cinkara, with a win allowing him to turn his attention to a unification bout against WBO and WBA champion Gilberto \u201cZurdo\u2033\u2063 Ramirez early next year.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

Becoming the heavyweight champion of the world \u2013 via a potential clash with Usyk \u2013 could then be on the cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my style to sit here and talk shit, but everyone is beatable,\u201d Opetaia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeavyweights are trying to fight him the wrong way, they are trying to hurt him and knock him out instead of boxing with him. He\u2019s beatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps if Opetaia does that, he will finally get the recognition he deserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The only other man to have beaten Briedis is the great Oleksandr Usyk, via a controversial points decision,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-41353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}