Jai Opetaia hopes the third time’s a charm in finalizing his first title defense.
It will be repeat business, should Mairis Briedis agree to move forward with his newfound position as mandatory challenger. The IBF ordered the two sides to enter talks for what would be a rematch to their cruiserweight championship thriller won by Opetaia.
“I can confirm the IBF have just instructed the representatives of Jai Opetaia and Mairis Briedis to negotiate,” Matt Clark, Opetaia’s manager, confirmed Thursday morning. “These negotiations should be concluded by September 8. Failing an agreement being made it will go to purse bid.”
Opetaia (22-0, 17KOs) won the IBF and lineal championship in a Fight of the Year-level twelve-round, unanimous decision last July 2 in Broadbeach, Australia. The 2012 Olympian—who, at 16, was the youngest ever Australian to box in the Olympics—overcame a broken jaw early in the fight to soundly outpoint Brieidis but has been unable to make his way back to the ring.
Between recovery from his jaw and subsequent shoulder surgery, Opetaia was on the mend until earlier this spring. The IBF ordered his first title defense, though the process ended with Poland’s Mateusz Masternak walking away from the opportunity shortly before it was due to head to a purse bid.
History repeated itself earlier this week, when unbeaten contender Richard Riakporhe was pulled the morning of the purse bid hearing.
Briedis (28-2, 20KOs) was able to advance to the head of the line despite having not fought since his loss to Opetaia.
The setback ended the third cruiserweight title reign for the now 38-year-old bruiser from Riga, Latvia. He claimed the IBF belt in a September 2020 twelve-round decision over Yuniel Dorticos (26-2, 24KOs) in their World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) cruiserweight tournament final.
The fight was his first since reclaiming a piece of the heavyweight throne with a twelve-round, majority decision win over Yuniel Dorticos in the World Boxing Super Series Season Two cruiserweight finals in September 2020.
The win over Dorticos came after an extended delay in moving forward with the WBSS finale, in part due to the pandemic. The other part of it was Brieidis having to wait out a ruling from the WBO, who ordered the now three-time titlist to enter an immediate rematch with Krzysztof Glowacki following their controversial June 2019 clash in Riga. Briedis won the WBSS semifinal bout and the WBO title by third round knockout, though marred by referee Robert Byrd’s gross mishandling of the contest to the point.
The rematch never came, with Briedis opting to vacate as he remained committed to the WBSS tournament. Briedis was a semifinalist in the WBSS Season One tournament, losing a twelve-round decision and his WBC title to Oleksandr Usyk for his first career defeat.
One successful defense came of his third reign—an October 2021 third-round knockout of overmatched Artur Mann in Riga.
Should Briedis follow suit of the previous two mandatories and bail on the fight, the next highest ranked IBF contender is Germany’s Huseyin Cincara (20-0, 16KOs), followed by Dorticos.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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