Tony Bellew Hails Jai Opetaia and Weighs Future Challenges

Fearsome Australian cruiserweight Jai Opetaia is the current IBF cruiserweight champion and began 2025 with a brutal knockout win over David Nyika. Attention quickly turned to what would be next for the IBF champion and Tony Bellew has recently praised the Australian to Casino Apps and spoken about possible future options for Opetaia.

Jai Opetaia Praised by Tony Bellew as Cruiserweight’s Best

Bellew on Opetaia’s Future and Potential Opponents

Opetaia ground out a tough win over the durable Mairis Briedis – which he backed up with a dominant display against Jack Massey. He then moved on to the Nyika bout. The New Zealander started brightly and looked to take the fight to the IBF champion. Opetaia slowly began to take over and walk Nyika down, landing a series of hurtful-looking hooks and uppercuts.

Round four saw Opetaia knock down Nyika, before again landing a series of hooks and uppercuts, which left Nyika unconscious for several minutes. He eventually made it to his feet, to the relief of all in attendance and watching at home. A brutally impressive win for Opetaia.

Bellew Talks ‘Monster’ Jai Opetaia

“He’s a monster. He’s just got to be very careful with the matches that you make for him. I mean, he’s the best cruiserweight in the world, there’s no disputing that,” said Bellew reflecting on the Australian’s dominance at Cruiserweight.

Looking ahead to what could be next for the heavy-handed southpaw, the ex-cruiserweight world champion said: “I do think the Zurdo fight’s a good fight, it’s one that he wins. I mean, I see challenges if you want to see the winner of Bertabiev versus Bivol? If it’s Beterbiev, he wants to jump up to light heavy, you’ve got to be careful playing around people like him. He’s an animal.”

He added: “He’s powerful. For the first time I think Beterbiev will be feeling what’s coming back at him. Opetaia can hit, he can move. He’s slick. He poses a lot of problems for anyone.”

“I’d love to see Benavidez and Beterbiev. Or Bivol and Benavidez. The Light Heavyweight division is stacked. We’ve also got a big, huge domestic fight coming up soon on this February card in Callum Smith versus Joshua Buatsi. Another brilliant fight. The Light Heavyweight division is so strong,“ said Bellew.