Coming up on May 18th, from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will square off against former 3-time cruiserweight champion, Mairis Briedis. This cruiserweight championship rematch will be featured on the undercard of the megabout showdown for undisputed heavyweight supremacy between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, and frankly, this is a terrific match-up for the undercard.
These two first squared off back in July 2022, and it was a highly engaging and brutal affair. Opetaia had suffered a broken jaw in two places, and fought most of the fight while battling through this debilitating injury, and Briedis fought much of the fight with a busted nose where he was visibly having difficulty breathing.
It was a competitive match where Opetaia was generally doing better work throughout the first half of the contest, and Briedis was generally doing better work over the second half of the fight. At the end of 12 rounds, Opetaia was awarded a unanimous victory which earned him the IBF cruiserweight belt.
Opetaia has fought twice since. He stopped Jordan Thompson in round 4 back in September of last year, and then last December on the boxing Day of Reckoning he stopped Ellis Zorro in the opening round. On the other hand the 39 year old Briedis has not fought since they last met. Opetaia vacated the IBF belt prior to his fight against Zorro because the IBF refused to sanction the bout, but the vacant IBF title will be on the line here for their upcoming rematch.
So who will win the upcoming cruiserweight championship rematch between Jai Opetaia and Mairis Briedis?
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will attempt to answer that question, while also providing a quick preview for the upcoming match between Jai Opetaia and Mairis Briedis. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s opinion. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).