‘That’s the aim’: Hearn says Opetaia will now look to unify titles at cruiserweight

Eddie Hearn says Jai Opetaia will seek a fight against ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and unify titles before looking towards a potential fight with Oleksandr Usyk down the line.

Following Jai Opetaia’s knockout win over David Nyika, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says they’ll be turning their attention to making a fight against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez for Opetaia as he aims to unify the division and eventually make a push for an Oleksandr Usyk fight. Here’s some excerpts of what Hearn said about the fight and Opetaia’s next move.

“What a fight,” Hearn said. “Firstly, huge credit to David Nyika because I think he showed huge heart. I believe (Nyika) will be world champion, just not tonight against not just the best cruiserweight in the world but one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world in Jai Opetaia.

“We have to try and make that Ramirez fight next and then we’ve got to try to grab that WBC and then the fight with Usyk starts to actually look it could be a possibility. You have to aim for that. If you’re going to be undisputed at cruiserweight you have to look to move up to heavyweight, and that’s the aim for Jai.

“Zurdo is a much more experienced fighter than David Nyika so it’s a real fight, but Zurdo should want to take that fight, he should want to prove he’s the best, he should try to unify the division. We know the payday will be there and hopefully we can make it happen.”