Undefeated Australian Jai Opetaia 21-0 (17) will get his first world title shot on home soil after IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis 28-1 (20) agreed to travel down under to face his mandatory challenger.
The bout will take place on April 6 at a venue to be determined.
The 26-year-old Sydney southpaw will be competing in the first world title fight held in Australia since Jeff Horn defended his WBO welterweight strap against Gary Corcoran in December 2017.
“Before Horn fought Corcoran, I brought Manny Pacquiao to Australia to fight Horn and I can tell you this fight between Jai Opetaia and Mairis Briedis was far more complex to negotiate than Pacquiao-Horn,” promoter Dean Lonergan said to the Daily Telegraph.
“The level of detail in the contracts are nothing short of incredible, but that’s what happens when you’re dealing with a company that has the scale and power of Wasserman.”
Latvian Briedis has been chasing a fight against Jake Paul, but Lonergan said he was never worried that Briedis would face the popular social media identity rather than Opetaia.
“I was never concerned that Briedis would fight Jake Paul instead because Paul doesn’t fight real boxers,” he said.
“If Jake Paul took that fight it would be a very short night for him – Briedis has never been off his feet and wins most of his fights by knockout.”
At 37 Briedis might be getting on in age but he is showing no signs of slowing down. His lone loss was to reigning unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk by majority decision four years ago.
Opetaia has some pedigree himself. He was the youngest Australian boxer to represent his country at the Olympics when he went to London in 2012 at just 16.
Still, he is coming up against the best cruiserweight in the world at the moment.
“Jai has to win this fight,” Lonergan continued. “His whole world will change if he becomes world champion.
“Our first defence would be against an Australian, likely Jason Whateley 9-0 (8) who is from Victoria, and within two or three fights we could easily move him up to heavyweight.
“If you’re the cruiserweight world champion, you go to the No.1 or No.2 position if you step up to heavyweight and there are massive fights there.
“And [undisputed super middleweight champion] Canelo [Saul Alvarez] has talked about stepping up to cruiserweight so there are potentially massive opportunities down the road for Jai should he defeat Briedis.”
Mexican Alvarez, 31, flagged a potential hit-and-run mission to cruiserweight with WBC champion Ilunga Makabu 29-2 (25) in his sights. The 34-year-old South African-based Congolese thought the idea of Alvarez jumping up two weight classes could only end badly.
“It’s a big mistake that he makes, to me it’s like he’s playing and joking with boxing. Boxing is a virtuous sport. If he goes up to cruiserweight, he’s going to get brutally knocked out. If they think Canelo hits hard, they don’t know what awaits for him with me,” Makabu said to FightHubTV.
“Canelo is a superstar, but I am too. They are the ones who asked for the fight. I can tell you that I think he is in serious danger by going to cruiserweight. He’s committing a mistake, because I’m going to knock him out if that happens.
“If you think he can knock Makabu out, you’re wrong. I’m ready for the fight and I can knock him out.”
