Tyson Fury v Jai Opetaia: Top Rank working on plan to bring heavyweight champion to Australia
Just weeks after shocking the boxing world with a stunning victory over Deontay Wilder, wheels are in motion to bring heavyweight superstar Tyson Fury Down Under to fight a rising Aussie slugger.
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Plans are in place to bring boxing superstar Tyson Fury to Sydney next year for a heavyweight showdown against Gosford fighter Jai Opetaia.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum, who promotes Fury, outlined the details to The Sunday Telegraph for what would be a global event held at Parramatta’s Bankwest Stadium in mid-2021.
The undefeated Opetaia (19-0, 15KO) fights in the cruiserweight division and can claim the world title within four fights, after which he would vacate the belt and move up to heavyweight immediately.
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“It has to be, from our standpoint, a competitive major event,” Arum said.
“I don’t know if he can beat Tyson, so big and talented. But this kid is very, very skilful.
“When he finishes in the cruiserweights and turns to the heavyweights, we’ll have him fight two top heavyweights in the United States.
“If he comes through, it will be a major attraction.
“We’d do it on a Sunday morning, we’ll get the benefit of pay-per-view in the United States.”
It’s understood Fury would collect $20 million for the bout, and Arum said the Englishman is keen to fight here.
“In a lot of ways, he’s very Australian,” Arum said. “The way he talks, the way he conducts himself. Aussies like that showmanship.
“I’ve never seen anybody this size who has this ability to box, and he has unbelievable knowledge of distance — his distance is absolutely perfect.”
Fury is the most in-demand boxer on the planet after his stunning stoppage victory over Deontay Wilder for the WBC heavyweight crown last month.
The undefeated 31-year-old will have a third bout against Wilder on July 31, after which it’s expected he’ll chase a showdown against fellow Brit Anthony Joshua.
At 206cm and 115kg, Fury will be seen by most as far too big and strong for Opetaia, who is 188cm and fights at 90.7kg but walks around at 99kg.
“I am excited to get this cruiserweight world title and after that I will spend time putting on some good size,” said Opetaia, who is of Samoan descent.
“I very rarely touch any weights, I know I’m capable of growing in size and strength. But I won’t change my style too much — speed kills.
“It would be a huge opportunity to fight Tyson Fury, it would history-making for Australia and Samoa. These things don’t happen very often.”
The key to making this shock deal is the relationship Arum has with Opetaia’s promoter Dean Lonergan — the pair worked together to bring Manny Pacquiao to Brisbane to fight Jeff Horn.
“People will say this fight will never happen, but we had the same talk for Manny Pacquiao, we’ve been here before and we know how it works,” Lonergan said.
With the recent bushfires and coronavirus having a huge negative impact on tourism, an event of this magnitude would give the state’s economy a huge boost, Lonergan added.
“We had 51,000 people in attendance for the Pacquiao-Horn fight, and 36 per cent of them came from out of state or overseas, that would be the minimum Tyson Fury brings to Sydney,” Lonergan said.
“We had 15,000 Filipinos in Brisbane. Being of English descent, I’d suggest we’d get 20,000 expat British fans for Fury — and probably 5000 Samoans supporting Jai.”
Opetaia begins his campaign for the cruiserweight world title in a fortnight by first taking on Youri Kalenga (25-6, 18KO), who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The bout will take place at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on March 21, on the same card as rising featherweight star Brock Jarvis (17-0, 15KO), who takes on Venezuela’s Christian Avila.
Tickets for the event are $20 and can be bought by searching “National Boxing Series” on website eventopia.co.