Promoter Eddie Hearn wants the unified WBA & WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to fight his fighter, IBF champ Jai Opetaia, next in a three-belt championship match.
Hearn NEEDS Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) and his promoters at Golden Boy to comply with the unification since the IBF has ordered Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) to defend against his mandatory next, Huseyin Cinkara (22-0, 18 KOs).
That fight will attract little interest on DAZN. Opetaia’s Australian fans is not going to mind him defending against the 39-year-old Cinkara, but the remaining of the world is not going to be excited concerning the fight.
What Does De La Hoya Stand to Gain?
Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya probably won’t need to do Hearn any favors by putting together a fight between his guy, Zurdo Ramirez, and Opetaia because he could be the underdog in that match. De La Hoya and Golden Boy should thumb their noses at Hearn and concentrate on continuing to match Ramirez against guys they know he can beat.
De La Hoya made a mistake once of letting Zurdo fight Hearn’s fight Dmitry Bivol in 2022, and he was beaten for the primary time in his profession by a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision. Oscar probably isn’t going to need to help Hearn out again by matching Ramirez against Opetaia and watching him get rivaled by the IBF champ.
In case you’re De la Hoya, you ought to proceed with putting Ramirez in with fighters like Chris Billiam-Smith and Arsen Goulamirian to try to make him a star. I don’t think it’s possible at this point to show the 33-year-old Ramirez right into a star, but that won’t keep De La Hoya from continuing to try.
Ramirez is a great fighter, but he’s easy to hit, as we saw in his fight against Billiam-Smith. It could be a disaster for De La Hoya to match him against Opetaia, who can really punch.
“It’s the most effective fight within the division, and it’s a must-make fight. Nearly as good as Zurdo is, Opetaia’s a unique animal,” said Hearn to @DAZNBoxing.
Cinkara vs. Opetaia: A Mandatory But Less Appealing Fight
Cinkara stopped Armend Xhoxha within the second round on April twenty seventh in an IBF eliminator to turn out to be the mandatory for Opetaia’s belt.
It’s not an enormous deal for Opetaia to face Cinkara next because many of the guys he’s fought during his nine-year profession in Australia have been little-known opposition.
The one known guy that Opetaia fought was Mairis Briedis, and he gave him every kind of problems of their rematch. In that fight, Opetaia looked afraid when he began taking punishment and fought so much like an even bigger version of Shakur Stevenson, motoring across the ring, trying to not get hit.
