IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia says Davis Nyika is trying to finish what he’s trying to achieve with his career and he won’t let him do it on Wednesday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, in Australia.
A drained Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) seemed a little taken aback by the intensity Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) displayed during their face-off at the weigh-in. He thinks that Nyika, 29, plans things at home in advance and that is not his style.
Challenger is trying to gain an advantage to win his fight because he knows he is facing what many fans believe is the king of the Cruiserweight division. Nyika doesn’t have the experience or the hype about his career like Opetaia, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win.
“He’s trying to end me”
He catches Jai at the ideal time when he is starting to show the strain of making weight and having fought a grueling rematch with former IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis last year in May. Nyika has the size, power and hunger to win this fight if he can outplay Opetaia.
“I didn’t expect that either. It was his little one. I know this kid goes home and he’s planning things in his head, what he said. Who knows? I’m not giving *** up,” Jai Opetaia told Boxing King Media, speaking about his face-off at the weigh-in with David Nyika.
“I never bad mouthed anybody. I never talked about anybody. I said I live here. That’s what I do. I talk about myself. I never bad mouth nobody. He’s still a good guy but very intense in there. We have a lot of pressure on ourselves.
“This is his opportunity and he’s trying to finish what I’m trying to do. So it’s all on the line. I don’t know, man. It’s a weird thing to hear,” Opetaia said as he shared that some people said that his ‘aura gives them goosebumps.’
Aura of intimidation
Nyika wanted to show that he wasn’t intimidated by Opetaia like the others and that’s why he got in his face and let him know that he came to win this fight. He predicts a knockout victory and it will be interesting to see if he can do that against Jai. If he does, it will disrupt Opetaia and his promoter Eddie Hearn’s plans for fights against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Oleksandr Usyk,
“I’m just focused on myself, trying to win these games and move on in life. I hope they’re good goosebumps and make you get off your feet and do something,” Opetaia said.
“I’ve met Mike Tyson. I have too much respect for Mike Tyson to put myself into that and he gives me goosebumps. So what does that say? So I don’t know what to say,” Opetaia said.
