Within the wake of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez’s unifying victory over Chris Billam-Smith, fellow cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia is about for a considerably much less glamorous bout, battling IBF necessary Hiseyin Cinkara on DAZN this coming January eighth.
Regardless of Ramirez’s triumph, there’s a powerful argument to be made that Opetaia (26-0, 20 KO) is the person to beat at 200 after two wins over Mairis Briedis and violent beatdowns of the likes of Ellis Zorro and Jack Massey. Cinkara (22-0, 18 KO), then again, is weak even by the IBF’s abysmal requirements; he’s 39 and his solely good win came to visit Armend Xhoxhaj this previous April, placing him within the firm of fellow victims-to-the-stars Apinun Khongsong and Michael Dasmarinas.
I really shot the IBF an interview request to debate rubbish mandatories like Cinkara and Michael Eifert. They simply threw a match about my Fernando Martinez article as a result of I stated he’d been stripped when it turned out he’d really vacated to keep away from being stripped.
At the very least Opetaia’s making a fast turnaround; Eddie Hearn has talked about pitting Opetaia towards Ramirez, which might be a genuinely nice battle, and the timing ought to work.
