Jai Opetaia vs Brandon Glanton for the ZUFFA Boxing Cruiserweight title to headline Z04 on March 8

DHs DH, that's what they do.

 

Funny how Billam-Smith has put his hand up now he has no leverage.

 

He wanted no part of Opetaia a year and a half ago. Despite being offered plenty. Including Opetaia offering to take way less than he would otherwise have been expected to get.

Riakporhe ran in the opposite direction too.

 

Yep and now CBS hss got no belts he's on the marvelous tonic Growaset.

 

Huge fan of Jai and I know he stagnated under Matchroom and Eddie, but surely Matchroom could've got him a better fight than Glanton, or at least something equal? Am I missing something?

 

I would obviously rather see Opetaia in a unification, but It takes two to tango. Glanton is a fine opponent and deserves a title shot. He'll definetly bring it until he goes to sleep.

 

Wow, finally Opetaia fights a Ring ranked dude (Glanton is currently #10)

 

Yet another mismatch and time waster.

 

Between Thompson and Squeo there was only Briedis II that went the distance, so Eddie did Jack Schmidt. Zuffa aren't even one fight in yet with Opetaia and found the most credible opponent at short notice because they had to showcase Jai ASAP, he is the key element of their business model, the flag bearer. Can we at least give them 18 months to do what Eddie couldn't in over twice that time?

 

How many great cruiserweights are there? Very few.

How many of them want to fight Opetaia? None.

Taking all that into account, Glanton is the compromise. He is Ring #10, rated top 15 by 3 orgs and he is the top ranked American for what will be Opetaia's US fight debut.

 

David Light who beat Glanton and sparred many rds with Jai has said it will be a real firefight.

 

Every single boxer on this card has a winning record - compare this to Queensberry, Top Rank, and Matchroom events.

https://boxrec.com/en/event/941662

 

Only days out from the fight, the IBF have announced Opetaia can fight for their belt OR Zuffa's, but not both.

Opetaia has vacated the IBF before. Looks like he will be vacating it again.

 

The IBF taking a 'my way or the highway' stance with Opetaia is the first return fire at Zuffa from the existing organizations.

Zuffa may have actually fared better if an existing WBC champion had been the litmus test, not an IBF one. Whoever had to make the first call - as it turns out the IBF - were going to set a precedent others were likely to follow IMO.

But this fork in the road was inevitable. It was only a matter of when and at least everybody now knows how things will likely play out going forward.

 

The IBF have now come out with the statement you make when you are not making a statement :

“The IBF is not making any public statements regarding this bout at the moment. We will be in touch once we move forward with a statement.”

The fight is 3 days away and these bumbling clowns are sitting on their thumbs.