Thursday, December 4
GOLD COAST, Australia – The Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara fight week bubble was taken to first the final pre-fight press conference, and then a promoter’s cocktail party, both in Surfer’s Paradise. The most successful promotions, regardless, cross over beyond the boxing community, as Thursday’s press conference at least briefly did with the presence and contributions of Bob La Castra, a councillor for the City of Gold Coast who described Saturday’s contest as “about as big as it gets”.
If the reality remains that there are bigger fights involving Opetaia in the cruiserweight division, his significance to the Australian fight scene should not be overlooked. BoxingScene counted three times on Thursday that he was compared to Mike Tyson. Those passionate about the heavyweight eras of the 1980s and 1990s would no doubt object, but what cannot be disputed is that Opetaia, at 30 years old, is at his physical peak, and that perhaps the only other of the world’s elite fighters who is as active as he is – Saturday’s fight is his third of 2025 – is Naoya Inoue. As with Inoue, Opetaia’s activity also appears to contribute so much to his success, as his promoter, Mick Francis of Tasman Fighters, also recognised.
“The worst thing for guys at this level is inactivity,” Francis said. “Inactivity – the guys go stale. Their minds go elsewhere. They’ve got to stay active. They’ve gotta stay in the media; stay in the gym.”
Jason Moloney’s opponent, Herlan Gomez of the Philippines, appeared to speak from a rehearsed script in an endearingly polite attempt to communicate in English; when BoxingScene attempted to speak to him upon the press conference’s conclusion (and it remains more than possible that what he then simply struggled with was English spoken with a thick south London accent) he struggled to understand or to respond. Incidentally, Jason’s twin Andrew is another who has since arrived in town.
Saturday’s fight is Opetaia’s first since the very recent, unexpected death following a heart attack of his long-term assistant trainer Keri Fui, and, in conversation with BoxingScene, the cruiserweight revealed that Tasman are preparing a tribute with which to remember him, pre-fight. “I think they’ve planned something,” he said. “I’ve got nothing to do with the planning, I just want to focus on winning the fight. My tribute to Keri’s winning.”
Tickets for the cocktail party, in the penthouse of the same hotel at which the press conference was staged, cost $99AUD and had been advertised with the promise of the newsworthy Joseph Parker, the Irish light heavyweight Conor Wallace, and Spencer Brown, “manager of Tyson Fury”, in attendance. On the night only Wallace appeared, but any who parted with their hard-earned money not only had the opportunity of meeting Wallace, Francis and some of Stan’s on-screen talent, of rubbing shoulders with, among others, the master of ceremonies Thomas Treiber and Maria Rekowski – said to be her country’s first female boxing promoter – and of indulging in a particularly generous four-hour drinks package and oysters and canapés, they could also bid in the auction for two framed-and-signed Opetaia fight posters. The first, for Opetaia-Mairis Breidis II, on the undercard of Fury-Oleksandr Usyk in May 2024, was sold for $2,000. The second, for Opetaia-David Nyika, was sold for $1,600. Francis and Wallace also spoke, on stage, about what they hope will be next in the Irishman’s career – a fight with the light-heavyweight world champion Dmitry Bivol, one of the very finest fighters in the world.
