Jai Opetaia vs David Nyika Preview January 8th, 2025
Two unbeaten Australian-based cruiserweights will be going at it this Wednesday, January 8th as Lineal and IBF Champion Jai Opetaia of Sydney takes on David Nyika of Hamilton, New Zealand. Opetaia won the titles via a unanimous decision over Mairis Briedis in a slugfest in July, 2022 and defended the IBF Belt by stopping Jordan Thompson in the fourth round 14 months later. He was stripped of the IBF Crown for failing to fight Briedis in a mandatory defence and defended the Lineal Title in December, 2023 by halting Ellis Zorro in the first round. Opetaia then met Briedis last May in a rematch for the vacant IBF Belt and beat him by unanimous decision and defended the Titles by stopping Jack Massey in the sixth round in October. Nyika last fought in September when he Stopped Tommy Karpency in the third round to win the vacant WBO Asia Pacific Belt and retain his IBF Inter-Continental Crown. This week’s fight can be seen live on DAZN in most nations with the card beginning at 3am ET.
Opetaia vs Nyika Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- David Nyika +800
- Jai Opetaia -1500
My Pick
The 29-year-old southpaw Opetaia climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 26-0 with 20 Ko’s and obviously carries quite a bit of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 76.9 per cent. However other than Briedis, he’s fought limited opposition up to now as his biggest wins were over the likes of Massey, Zorro, Jordan Thompson, Daniel Ammann, Frankie Lopez, Kurtis Pegoraro, Mark Flanagan and Benjamin Kelleher.
Opetaia is a good-sized cruiserweight as he stands 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 76-inch reach and has 120 of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2015 following a pretty successful amateur career. Opetaia represented his homeland at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England as a heavyweight but was edged in his first bout.
He was an Australian National Champion in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and won a gold medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships. He won gold at the 2012 Oceanian Olympic Qualifier as well as bronze at the 2012 World Youth Championships and boxed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Since turning pro Opetaia has also won the vacant Australia-New South Wales State Heavyweight Title along with the vacant OPBF, Australian, WBO Global, WBO Asia Pacific, WBA Oceania, IBF Pan Pacific, IBF Asia Oceania, and IBF Youth Cruiserweight Belts.
As for Nyika, he’s also 29 years old and carries around a perfect record of 10-0 with 9 Ko’s. He’s fought just 27 rounds since making his pro debut in 2021 due to his explosive power. He enjoyed an extensive amateur career and won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. He also fought at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan where he was also a New Zealand flag bearer.
Nyika is one of the biggest cruiserweights around as he measures 6-feet-6-inches with a 78-inch reach which gives him a four-inch edge in height and a two-inch reach advantage on Opetaia. He matches the champion in power as his current knockout ratio clocks in at 90 per cent. He’s gone the distance just once as a pro when Karim Maatalla took him in 2022 in a unanimous decision for Nyika.
The hard-hitting Nyika has recorded two first-round stoppages, three in the second round, two in the third and another two in the fourth round. The biggest wins Nyika has on his record came against Robert Berridge and Karpency. He originally captured the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Title in May when he stopped the formerly unbeaten Michael Seitz in the fourth round. There’s no question he’s taking a step up in class against Opetaia this week but his amateur pedigree will help him out.
Prediction…
Opetaia suffered a jaw injury in his first fight against Briedis and was out of action for over a year but hasn’t had a problem since coming back and has improved since that battle. However, Nyika matches him when it comes to power and amateur experience and enters the ring with a significant size advantage. Despite the odds, I believe Nyika has a good chance of pulling off an upset here and is worth a bet but the likely outcome will see Opetaia hang onto his belts in a close contest.
Opetaia’s pro experience should be the difference.
Play: Opetaia -1500 @ BetOnline.ag
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David Nyika betting • Jai Opetaia betting