Jai Opetaia Defeats Mairis Briedis in Australia
By Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media Head Boxing Correspondent
Broadbeach, Australia (July 5th, 2022)– At 27 years of age, Jai Opetaia, the new International Boxing Federation World Cruiserweight champion, is Australia’s best world champion since the late Les Darcy. At 22-0 with 17 knockouts, Opetaia scored the Real Combat Media Upset of Month for July 2022 by outpointing Mairis Briedis, 28-2 with 20 knockouts, Riga, Latvia, overcoming a broken jaw to win the IBF title by unanimous decision at Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Australia, down under, on Sunday, July 2, 2022.
Briedis appeared too flat footed, and was waiting too long to launch major punch attacks. Opetaia had a one-inch height, and a one-inch reach advantage, and appeared to be better bouncing on his feet and better able to use his reach advantage behind jabs and hooks to score points. Briedis landed some big shots, but Opetaia was able to tie him up superbly when necessary and took Briedis’ best shots.
Briedis, age 37, has been dominant but marooned in the cruiserweight division after Oleksandr Usyk moved up to heavyweight champion after winning a majority decision over the then-undefeated Briedis in January 2018. Now aging and approaching 40 years old, Briedis was unable to overpower or outmaneuver his younger, taller, stronger opponent and he had been able to do so in bouts past. With 15 months and 13 months stretches of inactivity in 2019 to 2020, and 2020 to 2021 during the Coronavirus Pandemic, Briedis was probably at a disadvantage coming into Australia. Opetaia, a top prospect, has never been seen outside of Australia, and also had similar periods of inactivity.
Briedis did good work in the center ring in the later rounds of the bout, but his power punches were for the most part ineffective. Opetaia gave Briedis a bloody nose from an uppercut early in the bout, and continued working the nose. Briedis did land some solid over right power shots, but Opetaia did not blink or flinch. Briedis definitely had a strong round eleven and a strong round twelve, but it was not enough for him to overcome scorecards for Opetaia of 116-112, 116-112, and 115-113. Perhaps the best potential future bout on the table next for Opetaia could be a unification bout with WBO World Cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie of Great Britain. In any case, Opetaia’s next bout will probably take him outside of Australia into the international scene and out of obscurity.
COMMENTS
English