JAI OPETAIA VS ELLIS ZORRO - FULL PREVIEW
Ring Magazine champion Jai Opetaia faces his second undefeated Brit in a row this Saturday when he takes on the exciting Ellis Zorro.
The build-up to this has been quite messy but not in a traditional sense, rather between one of the fighters and a governing body.
Opetaia claimed the IBF & Ring Magazine world titles back in July of last year before defending them for the first time against Jordan Thompson in September.
In the period since, the IBF ordered Opetaia to defend his belt against Mairis Briedis in a rematch, but with the Latvian injured, he gave his permission for Opetaia to defend his belt against Zorro.
However, since then, the IBF completed a dramatic U-turn which saw them give Opetaia the option to either vacate the belt and fight Zorro, or keep hold of the belt, not fight Zorro and wait for Briedis.
To his credit, the Aussie has decided to vacate the belt in order to stay active, which now sees just the Ring Magazine title up for grabs on Saturday.
An Olympian at the age of just 17, the slick southpaw Opetaia is unbeaten in his 23 outings as a professional, with 18 of those victories coming by way of stoppage.
Easy on the eye, quick on his feet and boasting power with both hands, he’s slowly starting to build up a reputation as one of the best fighters on the planet and he looked as good as he ever has when stopping Thompson inside four rounds in September.
Zorro, meanwhile, has had an interesting journey of his own. Unbeaten in his first 11 fights, he won the Boxxer tournament last year before picking up the WBO European title in May, before successfully defending it in October.
A fairly interesting clash of styles, we’re yet to see Zorro fight at world level whereas Opetaia has beaten world-level opposition in the shape of Briedis and Thompson in his last two fights.
This may well turn out to be just a step too far for Zorro against an opponent who could well become a pound-for-pound star in the next 18 months.
Opetaia will be looking to get in and out of there in a hurry as he prepares for sparring with Tyson Fury ahead of his clash with Oleksandr Usyk in February, plus there’s a significantly-sized carrot dangling in the shape of a rematch with Briedis to win back his IBF world title. He could even target the likes of Chris Billam-Smith and go down the WBO route.