GOLD COAST, Australia – Jai Opetaia’s promoter expects the IBF cruiserweight champion to enter a unification contest in 2026 and revealed that a stadium fight in his home city will also potentially follow.
Mick Francis of Tasman Fighters watched his leading fighter on Saturday chillingly stop Huseyin Cinkara in eight largely one-sided rounds. The victory was his third of 2025 and enhanced his reputation as the world’s leading cruiserweight, but after he suffered a suspected fractured eye socket the plans for his next fight are almost certain to be delayed.
According to the promoter a contract has been agreed for Opetaia to be matched with the winner of the rematch between Badou Jack and Norair Mikaeljan for the WBC title on December 13. He had been wary of how soon that would happen should Jack again prove the winner, but with Opetaia likely to remain inactive during the coming months an IBF and WBC title fight could be next.
The 30-year-old Australian has made little secret of his desire to fight for the undisputed title. At the end of a year in which he has been among the most active of the world’s leading fighters, for all of his frustration – both at his rivals and his performance against Cinkara – those hopes are potentially on course to fall into place.
Mexico’s Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, the WBA and WBO champion, is expected to fight David Benavidez in Las Vegas on the occasion of Cinco de Mayo. In the event of victory over Jack or Mikaeljan, Opetaia would be in a position to fight for all four titles next.
“The winner of next week’s fight – it’s already been contracted,” Francis told BoxingScene. “Dr Rakan [AlHarthy of Sela has] contracted both fighters, so the winner of that fight will fight Jai at some stage next year.
“If it was Badou Jack it’s gotta be after June, because of Ramadan; it’s a 12-week camp. Turki Alalshikh loves Jai – he might be involved a lot more as well, because he wants to make this fight, or both fights, here in Australia.
“We went over to New York and met with Eric Gomez and the Golden Boy team, when Hamzah Sheeraz fought [in July, Edgar Berlanga]. They like the fight; Oscar De La Hoya likes the fight. A week later [Ramirez is] getting a shoulder operation. You can’t make these guys get in the ring, but when we had that conversation one of the things they put to us was how would that fight work in Australia? At first I shut it down a little bit – was it a stadium fight? I’m not so sure – but I think we’re ready for a stadium fight now, and I’ve had a conversation with Eric since then.
“We’ve had Experience Gold Coast; they’re major sponsors. They’re expecting a big fight back here – a stadium fight – they’ve requested it and asked us to put a proposal forward. I’m not saying we’re gonna have a stadium fight in 2026, but everyone’s having the right conversations.”
On the occasion of his first pay-per-view fight on the influential Australian broadcaster Stan, Opetaia described himself as “pissed off” with his performance. The Turkish German Cinkara buckled his legs in the second round with a strong right hand, but thereafter, aged 40, struggled with his speed, intensity and – demonstrated above all else by one of the most destructive knockouts of 2025 – power.
“It was a really good fight,” Francis said. “He was a really tough opponent. There’s no question about that – he came to fight. He’s been studying Jai for the last 12 months, ever since he got the number-one spot with the IBF. He actually came to Riyadh [in Saudi Arabia], to try and face off against Jai, at one of Jai’s fights – we didn’t know who the hell he was.
“Yeah, he got knocked out, but he was very brave. He put on a really strong performance.
“Jai’s always hard on himself. If you go to the gym and watch the way he trains, he’s always hard on himself. He wants to be better and wants to work harder. He hasn’t reached where he wants to go.
“He’s had three really good fights this year, on the Gold Coast. Every single time he’s sold out [the Gold Coast Exhibition Centre] – there is a massive appetite for boxing in this part of the world now. I’m just hoping that we can bring back another big world-title fight with Jai next year here.
“We always say ‘Death by a thousand cuts’. Jai’s at his best when he measures the first round, and just wears ‘em down; wears ‘em down; wears ‘em down and gets ‘em to the point where he just jumps on ‘em.
“The pressures of the crowd; the pressures of expectations against this particular opponent; the pressure might have got to him a little bit and he might have been a little bit frustrated with himself. Maybe that affected his performance, but the performance was still strong. I’m very proud of him. We’ll sit down in the next few days and see what he wants to do in 2026.”
Francis was also asked about the impact of the recent, unexpected death, following a heart attack, of Keri Fiu, Opetaia’s long-term assistant trainer whose funeral fell less than a month before Saturday’s contest.
“We’ve had a tough last couple of months,” he responded. “There’s things that have gone on that – Jai; the whole team – everyone loved Keri. We all lost a couple of weeks dealing with that. That’s what Jai always does – he pushes through – but he was hurting. Keri was very close to all of us. You saw the tributes – it just goes to show how much he was loved.”
