Cruiserweight Champion Jai Opetaia Awaits Winner of Billam-Smith vs. Riakporhe Title Fight
IBF cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia has his sights set on the winner of Saturday’s WBO cruiserweight championship bout between defending champion Chris Billam-Smith and challenger Richard Riakporhe.
Opetaia, the undefeated Australian southpaw, recently regained the IBF belt in May, defeating Latvia’s Mairis Briedis in Saudi Arabia. While the 25-year-old has aspirations of eventually moving up to heavyweight, his immediate focus is to unify the cruiserweight titles.
“I think that’s a great fight. It’s a good fight for the cruiserweight division – those boys have got a lot on the line,” Opetaia stated ahead of the Billam-Smith vs. Riakporhe showdown at Selhurst Park in London. “I know they both want to win pretty bad, so I’m expecting them to go to war. Give me the winner of that.”
Riakporhe holds a previous victory over Billam-Smith, having won a close split decision in their 2019 bout when both fighters were undefeated. However, Billam-Smith has since gone on to capture the WBO title, defeating former gym mate Lawrence Okolie last summer and making one successful defense against Mateusz Masternak in December.
Opetaia is keeping an open mind about the outcome, acknowledging that he hasn’t closely studied either fighter.
“Honestly, I’ve got no clue,” he said. “I haven’t really watched them too much. But if and when I do have a fight lined up with one of them, then I’ll start to watch them. Other than that, I’ll just focus on my own s***.”
The hard-hitting Opetaia (25-0, 18 KOs) is eager to pursue unification fights in the cruiserweight division, stating, “We want these unification fights to happen. It doesn’t matter who wins the fight. Just whoever does, let’s make it happen. We’ve been chasing it for a long time, so it’s about time we fight for another one.”
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