Uncrowned has Jai Opetaia vs. David Nyika live results, round-by-round updates, ring walks and start time for the Opetaia vs. Nyika fight card in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. Opetaia defends his IBF cruiserweight championship against Nyika in a Trans-Tasman battle of unbeatens.
Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) first won the IBF cruiserweight title when he upset Mairis Briedis by decision in 2022. He made the first defense of his crown in September 2023 with an impressive stoppage win over Britain’s Jordan Thompson after signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. The Aussie was then stripped of his championship in late 2023 for taking a fight with Ellis Zorro, who was unranked and didn’t make it out of the opening round with Opetaia.
Opetaia become a two-time IBF champion this past May by winning a competitive decision in a rematch with Briedis. In his most recent bout, Opetaia stopped Jack Massey in six rounds on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undercard in October.
Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) won gold medals at back-to-back Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018 and concluded his stellar amateur run with a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The New Zealander turned professional in 2021 and has strung together 10 wins, but he goes into this fight as a significant underdog due to his minimal pedigree in championship contests.
Opetaia was supposed to face his mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara on this show, however Cinkara withdrew from the bout after breaking his ankle in training. Opetaia’s co-promoter, Mick Francis of Tasman Fighters, went through the IBF rankings searching for a replacement and had to go down to No. 10 before finding a taker. The IBF will count Opetaia-Nyika as a mandatory defense of the title, leaving the winner of Wednesday’s fight free to make a voluntary defense or participate in a unification match.
In the co-feature, Justis Huni (11-0, 6 KOs), the WBO’s No. 5 ranked contender at heavyweight, puts two regional belts on the line against South Africa’s Shaun Potgieter (10-1, 7 KOs). Also on the show, Australia’s own Teremoana Teremoana (5-0, 5 KOs), a 2024 Olympian, continues his journey in the pro ranks at heavyweight against Germany’s Osasu Otobo (11-1-1, 5 KOs) in a six-round battle.
Opetaia vs. Nyika prelims begin at 2 a.m. ET on the DAZN Boxing YouTube channel and can be watched live below.
The main card starts at 3 a.m. ET on DAZN. Main event ring walks are expected at around 7 a.m. ET.
In Australia and New Zealand, the card will be available on DAZN pay-per-view; elsewhere in the world, fans can watch it as part of their regular DAZN subscription.
Follow live results and highlights with Uncrowned’s Jai Opetaia vs. David Nyika live blog below.
Main Card (3 a.m. ET, DAZN)
IBF cruiserweight title: Jai Opetaia vs. David Nyika
Heavyweight: Justis Huni vs. Shaun Potgieter
Super middleweight: Max McIntyre vs. Abdulselam Saman
Super welterweight: Ben Mahoney vs. Fan Zhang
Heavyweight: Teremoana Teremoana vs. Osasu Otobo
Lightweight: Taylah Gentzen vs. Shauna Browne
Prelims (2 a.m. ET, Uncrowned)
Super featherweight: Tony Ingram vs. Runqi Zhou
Light heavyweight: Billy McAllister vs. Jordan Towns
Welterweight: Albert Tu’ua vs. Kodi Shallali
Catchweight: Jai Williams vs. Jag Guthmann-Chester
