Jai Opetaia has officially been stripped of the IBF Cruiserweight title

Good. **** Zuffa

 

Surely he knew this would happen? The IBF (or any alphabet organisation) are not going to sanction a fighter signed to an organisation intent on their destruction.

 

Opetaia is wasting his career at CW at this point.

 

I would suggest that the Alphabet soup is hastening their own destruction with shite like this.

 

Maybe this will be the trigger for Opetai to go up to heavyweight. Probably not though.

 

How so? By allowing a fighter that works for an organisation that intends to make them irrelevant moving forward to use their belt?

No, another boxer will come along and box for them and they'll be fine

Good luck to Jai and it's good he is getting better money now but he is a bit thick to have not seen this scenario coming despite what he may have been been promised

 

yep, they can stick up their man-pussi

 

Zuffa hasn't exactly ignited any careers yet, and yet it's already begun to damage at least one champion's career.

The orgs tend to stick together. If one org won't recognize another org in a unification, the others don't tend to. (The WBO was blackballed by the WBA, WBC and IBF for years.)

Wonder if fights with other champions will be harder for Jai to sign now?

 

Not sure what you were expecting after just 4 shows?

 

It is almost a relief the IBF have finally, finally found their voice and communicated a decision, even if it wasn't what most wanted to hear.

The best cruiserweight in the division being stripped is obviously bad for the sport but boxing is going through a huge transition and Opetaia is an early part of the collateral damage we are going to see until the dust settles.

 

Is this part of the Dana White strategy to make him undisputed?

 

And it seems that the only person who couldn't see this happening was Jai's manager.

 

Masternak-Riley fight on April 4th had already been named as eliminator for Opetaia's IBF title and with Opetaia now stripped, logically should have become a fight for the vacant title.

Masternak is IBF #4 and Riley IBF #7 and with positions #1 and #2 in the IBF rankings vacant, and Opetaia now stripped, this fight effectively becomes #1 versus #5 and having already been named as an eliminator, should have become the title fight.

But for reasons best known to the IBF, they have now catapulted Billam-Smith into one corner of the fight for the vacant title, with the other to be filled by the winner of Masternak-Riley.

 

The IBF and Opetaia truly are the Rachel and Ross of boxing. Will they or won't they stay together?