{"id":461711,"date":"2026-03-07T01:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461711\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T01:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:08:08","slug":"eddie-hearn-says-jai-opetaia-went-stale-before-zuffa-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461711\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn Says Jai Opetaia \u2018Went Stale\u2019 Before Zuffa Move"},"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>Hearn said the decision to move in a new direction made sense from Opetaia\u2019s side, even if the immediate results have not yet delivered the type of opposition that had been discussed publicly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a good move for him because I think he needed to do something because he was going stale,\u201d Hearn said to Boxing News when discussing Opetaia\u2019s position in the division.<\/p>\n<p>Opetaia is scheduled to face Brandon Glanton in his next fight, though Hearn suggested the matchup does not reflect the bigger fights that were expected when talk of Zuffa\u2019s entry into boxing began circulating.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t sit there and go, \u2018I\u2019m moving to Zuffa because I\u2019m going to get the big unification fights,\u2019 and then fight Brandon Glanton,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cYou\u2019re just doing the same thing that you\u2019ve done for the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Glanton previously faced Chris Billam-Smith in a bout that ended in a wide decision defeat, which has led to questions about how much the upcoming fight advances Opetaia\u2019s position among the leading names at cruiserweight.<\/p>\n<p>Hearn also acknowledged that the difficulty in landing major fights has not necessarily been Opetaia\u2019s responsibility. The promoter pointed to the practical challenge of securing willing opponents in a division where several contenders have followed separate promotional paths.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not his fault because people haven\u2019t been wanting to fight him,\u201d Hearn said when discussing the situation surrounding the champion\u2019s activity.<\/p>\n<p>Opetaia\u2019s skill set inside the ring has rarely been in doubt, yet the division has struggled to produce the kind of matchups that clarify its hierarchy. The move connected to Zuffa has been viewed by some observers as an attempt to open a different path toward those opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Whether that change leads to the fights that define the division will become clearer after the next defense, which for now follows a familiar pattern of activity around one of cruiserweight\u2019s most highly regarded champions.<\/p>\n<p>Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hearn said the decision to move in a new direction made sense from Opetaia\u2019s side, even if the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-461711","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\/461711","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=461711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}