Opetaia against the world: shoot or freeze?

Jai Opetaia looked and sounded angry as he faced challenger David Nyika on Saturday to discuss the January 8 fight. Opetaia seemed in a bad mood from the start, as if he had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning.

His bad mood worsened when Nyika didn’t shy away, showed fear, and didn’t behave in the submissive manner he seemed to expect from him.

Opetaia’s wrath revealed

Opetaia wanted him to cower and be submissive, and he wouldn’t do it. Jai wanted to stay in control and dominate Nyika during their meeting.

It was a signal of how insecure Opetaia is. He’s clearly used to intimidating his opponents and making them submit so he can dominate them when they enter the ring.

IBF cruiserweight world champion Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) was livid when told that Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) wanted to have a “shootout” with him on Wednesday night.

The 29-year-old Opetaia said he wanted a 12-round “war” with the 6ft 2in Nyika and believed he would knock him out. The two fighters will meet at the Gold Coast Convention Center in Broadbeach, Australia. The event will be broadcast live on DAZN.

“Sparring is sparring. I’m ready for a fight on April 10th. Don’t worry about the sparring. “It’s a whole different ball game,” Jai Opetaia said DAZN Boxing to David Nyika.

“I feel like I did everything I needed to do. I feel like I know Jai well enough. The head that bears the crown is heavy. “I’ve had my eye on Jai for a long time,” Nyika said.

“I know I can knock him out. I know I can hurt him,” Opetaia said. “These little gloves are a dangerous game. You want to have a shootout. Let’s have a shootout. I know it won’t be a shootout. He will box. He doesn’t want to get hit. It will be a chess game.

“So, let’s go there and play it. 12 rounds of war. I’m ready for it. You say that you are prepared for me. I’m prepared for everyone. I don’t have my goals in mind for anyone. I just train. I focus on myself; that’s it. There is no one out there that I imagine I would want to beat or beat,” Opetaia said.

Will Obadiah freeze again?

Jai talks a lot but wasn’t involved at all in his rematch with Mairis Briedis on May 18. Opetaia looked like someone suffering from severe combat stress. He fell apart as he faced constant fire from the Latvian fighter and froze in the last six rounds.

Briedis dominated the second half of the fight and did enough to earn a draw. The judges gave the decision to Opetaia, but it should have been a draw. That’s why it’s strange that Opetaia talks about wanting to wage a “war” with Nyika; He is not good in these conditions. Opetaia is good when his opponents don’t throw and he takes over the entire attacking position. If he just throws, he’s fine.

“I beat myself every day. It hurts to make sacrifices every day, I’m ready for it,” Opetaia said.

“It sounds like you haven’t done your homework,” Nyika said when asked what goes through his mind when he hears Opetaia talking about him and knowing he’s going to knock him out. “It doesn’t seem that perfect practice makes perfect.

“I practiced, researched and gathered my information. This is not the type of sport where you can start with a single game plan. I have a game plan from A to Z,” Nyika said.

As Nyika said all of these things, Opetaia appeared to be in a fit of rage and highly annoyed that he had someone who would not bow to him and paw the ground like a footman like the many second division fighters he had to his record had done with.