Promoter Eddie Hearn wants joint WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to fight IBF champion Jai Opetaia next in a three-belt fight.
Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) and his Golden Boy promoters are required to agree to a rematch because the IBF has ordered Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) to defend against his next challenger, Huseyin Cinkara (22-0, 18 KO).
That fight will attract little interest on DAZN. Opetaia’s Australian fans won’t mind him defending Cinkara, 39, but the rest of the world won’t be happy about this fight.
What makes De La Hoya successful?
Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya probably won’t want to make Hearn any favon by putting together a fight between his young man, Zurdo Ramirez, and Opetaia because he will be the underdog in that match. De La Hoya and Golden Boy should thumb their noses at Hearn and focus on continuing to match Ramirez against guys they know he can beat.
De La Hoya made the mistake of allowing Zurdo to fight Hearn’s Dmitry Bivol fight in 2022, and was beaten for the first time in his career by a unanimous decision in 12 rounds. Oscar probably won’t want to help Hearn out again by matching Ramirez with Opetaia and watching him fight the IBF champion.
If you’re De la Hoya, you want to keep putting Ramirez with fighters like Chris Billiam-Smith and Arsen Goulamirian to try and make him a star. I don’t think it’s possible yet to turn the 33-year-old Ramirez into a star, but that won’t stop De La Hoya from trying.
Ramirez is a good fighter, but he is easy to beat, as we saw in his fight with Billiam-Smith. It would be a disaster for De La Hoya to compare him to Opetaia, who can really punch.
“It is the best fight in the division, and we must fight it. As good as Zurdo is, Opetaia is a different animal,” Hearn told @DAZNBoxing.
Cinkara vs. Opetaia: Compulsive But Less Attractive Combat
Cinkara stopped Armend Xhoxha in the second round on April 27 in the IBF championship to become a contender for Opetaia’s belt.
It’s not a big deal that Opetaia faces Cinkara next because most of the guys he’s fought in his nine years in Australia weren’t that big of a deal.
The only guy known to have fought Opetaia was Mairis Briedis, and he gave him all kinds of trouble in their rematch. In that fight, Opetaia looked nervous when he started getting punished and fought more like a big version of Shakur Stevenson, running around the ring, trying not to get hit.
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