The cruiserweight champion’s next fight will not be a unification.
Boxing King Media can exclusively reveal that Jai Opetaia will not be fighting Noel Mikaelian next.
Jai Opetaia, holder of The Ring and IBF titles at cruiserweight, was thought to be facing WBC champion Noel Mikaelian next after the two faced off backstage during Zuffa Boxing’s first card last week.
Zuffa Boxing had announced the signing of Jai Opetaia just earlier this month.
Opetaia famously won his titles after pulling off an upset over reigning champion Mairis Briedis to battle through a broken jaw and win a decision. A violent defence followed in a stoppage over undefeated Briton Jordan Thompson before Opetaia was stripped of his IBF title for choosing to fight Ellis Zorro instead of his mandatory.
His mandatory happened to be Mairis Briedis, and after Opetaia starched the undefeated Zorro in one round, he rematched Briedis and won back his IBF title to become a two-time cruiserweight champion in yet another gritty decision that Opetaia toughed out down the stretch.
Following this was a stoppage over the tough Jack Massey before Opetaia made a trio of defences in 2025, including two chilling KOs over David Nyika and Hüseyin Cinkara.
As for Noel Mikaelian, he himself fought Mairis Briedis in the 2018 World Boxing Super Series, but lost a decision to the prime Latvian. Since then, though, Mikaelian has fought himself back into title contention and ultimately got a shot at the vacant WBC cruiserweight title against Ilunga Makabu, who he knocked out in three rounds.
Some complicated business then went on regarding the WBC, but the end result was former champion Badou Jack being made WBC champion again.
Mikaelian would fight Jack for the title in May of 2025, but came away with a decision loss that was debated by many. A rematch was ordered, and Mikaelian made it count by beating the 42-year-old champion to lift the WBC strap once again.
A fight between Opetaia and Mikaelian would see two two-time 200-pound titleholders squaring off in a unification bout, something that Opetaia has been very open about wanting for quite a while. However, it would appear that Mikaelian is not the opponent Opetaia will be facing in his next fight.
It has been revealed that Opetaia’s next fight will be against an American fighter (Mikaelian is a German citizen of Armenian birth), and in this fight, Opetaia will be making his American debut.
The identity of this American fighter is not currently known, but is set to be announced imminently.
In an interview with Boxing King Media, Opetaia stated about this soon-to-be-announced fight, “Yeah, man, I’m pumped for this. I know it’s a tough fight. We’ve been training hard. Let’s get it on, man. I’m f***in’ excited.”
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