Jai Opetaia Backs Mairis Briedis’ Late Rally, Earns Repeat Awards to Defend RING Championship
Jai Opetaia almost avoided the drama he was supposed to see for the first time.
The King of the Ring cruiserweight was in control for nine rounds but was forced to hold on late to win on points.
Mairis Briedis from Latvia. The scores were 118-110, 119-109 and 117-111 for Opetaia in their rematch on Saturday evening at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Opetaia defended his RING title and regained the IBF belt he was stripped of last December.
Most of the fight seemed a long way from when Opetaia knocked out Briedis in their memorable meeting in July 2022. Opetaia fought over ten rounds with a broken jaw that night to win the Ring, lineal and IBF championships.
Briedis had not fought since his third title run. He looked every bit the part of an unemployed 39-year-old man for much of their second act. Sydney’s Opetaia landed a good punch for most of the night and controlled the match with his jab and hot left hand.
Opetaia had Briedis in trouble in the fourth round. A few left hands found the mark and blasted Briedis open nose. The same pattern played out in the sixth, as concerns grew about the former three-time lineup.
The moves were slowed down a bit in the second half of the fight. Opetaia was content with boxing and did not press the action as a decision victory was imminent. Briedis was a long way from any of his title stays but he exuded heroic endurance and grit.
That started late in the tenth round.
Opetaia’s left hand found its mark, as it had throughout the fight. Briedis dared to follow and was able to open Opetaia’s nose. Opetaia went down to the canvas, though it was taken out as a slip as he survived the round.
Briedis landed several blows in the last two rounds. Opetaia stopped in the eleventh place but smartly went around the ring in the twelfth. Briedis connected with a dangling right hand but couldn’t muster a sustained attack to pull off the improbable comeback.
Opetaia (25-0, 19 knockouts) made his third successful championship defense. He is now a two-time IBF champion, although he has never lost a belt in the ring.
The decision to go ahead with the December 23 fight with Ellis Zorro—in this arena—came instead of ordering a rematch with Brieidis. The IBF did this and took the title out of his hands.
Opetaia knocked out Zorro in the first round and entered talks for a second fight with Briedis (28-3, 20 KOs). They were supposed to meet on February 17 at the Kingdom Arena as they will face the untitled heavyweight championship of Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk. The entire program was delayed for three months when Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) was injured at the end of training camp.
Opetaia will seek the winner of the June 15 Chris Billam-Smith vs. Richard Riakporhe rematch of Billam-Smith’s WBO cruiserweight belt. He also talked about the potential WBC bridgerweight title, Lukasz Rozanski defending Lawrence Okolie on Friday in Rzeszow, Poland.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
