Could Jai Opetaia unify against Badou Jack before fighting Gilberto Ramirez in October?
Mar 3, 2025 • 10:30 PM ET
With unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez telling BoxingScene his next fight will be against Yuniel Dorticos in May, that would leave IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia without a fight for much of the year.
Ramirez collected the WBA belt from Arsen Goulamirian and the WBO belt from Chris Billam-Smith in a strong 2024 which saw him listed as one of the fighters of the year.
Australian southpaw Opetaia, 27-0 (21 KOs), defeated David Nykia last month and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, hopes Opetaia will be able to add to his championship silverware even before he fights Ramirez, should that contest happen in 2025.
“We want Jai to fight Ramirez, but His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] is talking about that fight for October,” said Hearn. “So we’ll probably do something before.”
The WBC champion is Badou Jack, but the 200lbs division has been a hectic place for the WBC. At their annual convention in Hamburg in December, champion Noel Mikaelyan was made champion in recess while he clears up a dispute with promoter Don King, while former champion in recess Jack was reinstalled as the champion.
The sanctioning body said, once Mikaelyan has resolved his issues, he would be able to return in a title fight for a favorable purse percentage, but they also have to consider long-suffering contender Ryan Rozicki, who is their No. 1 challenger.
But a unification fight with Opetaia as a priority could be the answer.
“I don’t mind Badou Jack [for Opetaia],” said Hearn. “He [Opetaia]’s got to go through the champions and it’s only two fights that makes him undisputed…. Badou Jack and then Zurdo. And then move to heavyweight. Jai had a fast turnaround, [defeating Jack Massey in] October and January. And now the plan is to get him out probably in the summer and then fight Ramirez in October.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
