The undercard for the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undisputed heavyweight championship has been unveiled, and in the chief support fight, Jai Opetaia will face Mairis Briedis in a rematch for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title.
Opetaia (24-0, 19 KOs) defeated Briedis (28-2, 20 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision two years ago, capturing the IBF title furious battle in July 2022. Briedis was worn down in that fight and wasn’t able to hold onto his title.
Since that fight, Opetaia has picked up a couple of wins, beating Ellis Zorro last December by a first-round knockout on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Riyadh and stopping Jordan Thompson by a fourth-round knockout.
Opetaia wanted this rematch, and he’s finally gotten his wish. Their first fight was a war with both guys landing a lot of heavy shots. Opetaia won by the scores 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113.
Other fights on the Fury-Usyk card:
Joe Cordina vs. Anthony Cacace
Sergey Kovalev vs. Robin Sirwan
Isaac Lowe vs. Hasibullah Ahmadi
Moses Itauma vs. TBA
Bakhodir Jalolov vs. TBA
David Nyika vs. TBA
Cordina (17-0, 9 KOs) will defend his IBF super featherweight title against Cacace (21-1, 7 KOs) in his first fight since his questionable twelve-round majority decision over Edward Vazquez last November.
It would have looked better on Cordina’s part to give Vazquez a rematch to clear up the controversy of their fight, but his management has chosen to play it safe and move on rather than chance it in a second match with the Texan.
Former unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) faces Robin Sirwan (16-0, 12 KOs). This fight will be held in the cruiserweight division, as the 40-year-old Kovalev has outgrown the 175-lb division.
Kovalev still has formidable power, and he’s been working hard in training camp for this fight, getting in excellent condition. It’s been two years since Kovalev last fought, defeating Tervel Pulev by a 10-round unanimous decision in May 2022.
