Eddie Hearn expects Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara to be televised, despite the uncertainty that continues to surround the IBF cruiserweight title fight scheduled for December 6.
Matchroom have a promotional stake in the defending champion, but on the same date as his latest fight Hearn will be in Monte Carlo overseeing the European junior-featherweight title fight between Britons Peter McGrail and Shabaz Masoud.
As with Opetaia, Matchroom also co-promote his compatriots Justis Huni and Teremoana Teremoana, the heavyweights who respectively fight Kiki Toa Leutele and German Garcia Montes on the undercard of his title defence against Cinkara at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Australia’s Gold Coast.
That a promotion also featuring the bantamweight Jason Moloney and the junior welterweight Jake Wyllie remains without a broadcaster on the same evening on which Masoud-McGrail will feature prominently on DAZN – where so many of Opetaia’s previous contests have been broadcast – means there exists a sense of uncertainty ahead of a fight it is widely hoped will propel the cruiserweight into a defining year in 2026. But Hearn said: “I think there’ll be an announcement on that soon.
“There’s a lot of boxing around that date. We’re in Monaco so I can’t be on the Gold Coast; we are co-promoting the show with Tasman Fighters, and Goldstar; we’re all partners on Jai. It’s doing really well, actually. Mick’s [Francis] really gone for it – I think Tasman do a great job on the ground – and we’re looking for a devastating performance from Jai, and then to move on.
“We don’t have the fight done, but we have had very deep conversations with Turki Alalshikh about Jai fighting Badou Jack if Gilberto Ramirez is not available. Badou Jack is now fighting in December against Norair Mikaeljan in a rematch, so that will work out quite well, and then, really, 2026 is about Jai unifying ASAP.
“Badou Jack and Gilberto Ramirez – he’s only two fights away from being undisputed [champion]. If he fights Badou Jack in February time – something like that – the winner and Ramirez have two belts. It’s an undisputed fight, and it’s one of the best in the division.”
The promoter was then asked if he therefore expected Opetaia-Cinkara to be on DAZN, and he responded: “Possibly. In Australia there’s not an exclusive deal with DAZN. Obviously DAZN have now acquired [television company] Foxtel, so there’s conversations there between Matchroom and Foxtel for 2026; there’s other broadcasters as well. We work closely with DAZN, but we’re not the lead promoter of that show.”
Matchroom’s Irish welterweight Paddy Donovan could yet, according to Hearn, fight his Australian rival Liam Paro in a final eliminator for Lewis Crocker’s IBF title the following week.
There also remains the possibility of the English middleweight Denzel Bentley fighting Venezuela’s Endra Saavedra in a WBO title eliminator on the same promotion. Australian promoters No Limit are on course to oversee both contests; the previously planned date of December 13 will be determined by the fitness of Nikita Tszyu, who was scheduled to fight his fellow Australia Michael Zerafa at a catchweight between junior middleweight and middleweight until injuring himself in a car crash.
