Unbeaten Zuffa Boxing champion Jai Opetaia and WBC titlist Noel Mikaelian are finalizing a deal to stage a cruiserweight bout on an upcoming The Ring Magazine card later this year, BoxingScene learned Friday.
Australia’s Opetaia 30-0 (23KOs) worked on the details with Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh while attending last week’s heavyweight title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven at Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza.
Alalshikh originally was pushing for new unified cruiserweight champion David Benavidez to fight Opetaia, who was effectively stripped of his IBF title by participating in his Zuffa Boxing debut versus Brandon Glanton on March 8.
An official briefed on the matter told BoxingScene that Benavidez 32-0 (26KOs), who also reigns as WBC light-heavyweight champion, turned down an Opetaia fight and was “locked in” on instead pushing for a long-denied bout against four-division champion Canelo Alvarez.
Mexico’s Alvarez already has a September 12 fight on the books versus WBC super-middleweight champion Christian Mbilli, and he’s fought twice at 175lbs, knocking out Sergey Kovalev seven years ago and then losing to current three-belt champion Dmitry Bivol in 2022.
Bivol defends his 175lbs belts Saturday in Russia.
Benavidez promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told BoxingScene Friday that Benavidez, “doesn’t want to fight for the Zuffa title … he doesn’t want to fight Opetaia for nothing.”
Lewkowicz additionally said he’s concerned that Bivol will move to fight WBO Interim Champion Callum Smith after likely winning as a -2500 betting favorite Saturday over IBF mandatory challenger Michael Eifert.
Lewkowicz told BoxingScene he has sent a formal offer for a Benavidez-Bivol fight to Bivol promoter Eddie Hearn and “I haven’t heard from [Hearn].” Benavidez is eyeing a return bout in November.
“David Benavidez will not wait for anyone,” Lewkowicz said. “He wants his own legacy.”
A boxing official familiar with the negotiations said Benavidez co-promoter Premier Boxing Champions was simultaneously working to offer Mikaelian a three-fight deal that would start with a Benavidez unification bout.
But the offer by Alalshikh has won over the 35-year-old Mikaelian 28-3 (12KOs), who captured the WBC belt in Los Angeles in December by defeating then-champion Badou Jack by unanimous decision.
Opetaia-Mikaelian offers the potential for fascinating hype considering the brash Zuffa Boxing head Dana White represents Opetaia and the loquacious 94-year-old Don King, who has promoted Muhammad Ali and MikeTyson, handles Mikaelian.
In addition to Opetaia, Zuffa Boxing boasts a rising cruiserweight stable that will be showcased June 6 in England when former champion Chris Billam-Smith meets Ryan Rozicki in the main event on Paramount+ with cruiserweights Jack Massey and Cheavon Clarke in the co-main.
