{"id":459794,"date":"2026-03-06T00:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459794\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:54:09","slug":"jai-opetaia-says-billam-smith-missed-unification-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459794\/","title":{"rendered":"Jai Opetaia Says Billam-Smith Missed Unification Chance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Opetaia said Billam-Smith chose a different route when the opportunity for a unification fight was available.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe thought it was going to be an easier fight. He wanted to collect a belt before he fought me,\u201d Opetaia said to Sky Sports. \u201cHe thought it would be easier. But now look.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Billam-Smith later fought Gilberto \u201cZurdo\u201d Ramirez for the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles in November 2024 and lost that fight, leaving Ramirez as the unified champion in the division.<\/p>\n<p>Opetaia said the situation looks different now that Billam-Smith no longer holds a title.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t you think it\u2019s crazy how I was trying to fight him for so long when he had the belt,\u201d Opetaia said. \u201cNow he doesn\u2019t have a belt, now he wants to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Opetaia said he was ready for a unification fight when both fighters were champions and would still accept the fight if it were offered again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had the opportunity to have a unification fight. We were always talking about it. I was ready,\u201d Opetaia said.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian also rejected suggestions that he carefully selects opponents during his career and said his approach has always been to accept the fights offered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never hand-picked a fight,\u201d Opetaia said. \u201cI legit just sit in the gym, train hard, and they call up and say you\u2019re fighting him here, and I say done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Opetaia\u2019s immediate focus remains on his upcoming fight with American contender Brandon Glanton this Sunday, March 8th, as he continues his attempt to collect the remaining cruiserweight titles.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Segal is a boxing journalist at Boxing News 24 with more than a decade of experience covering fight news, previews, and analysis. Known for his straightforward reporting and ringside perspective, he delivers authoritative coverage of champions, contenders, and emerging talent worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opetaia said Billam-Smith chose a different route when the opportunity for a unification fight was available. \u201cHe thought&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-459794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}