Opetaia is a former cruiserweight champion who gave up his belt in order to be able to fight on the Day of Reckoning Card out in Saudi Arabia in December last year.
That night saw him brush aside Ellis Zorro via a brutal first round knockout, having also easily dealt with Brit Jordan Thompson in September last year.
On May 18th, he is back in the ring with a chance to win back his vacant IBF belt on the undercard of the undisputed contest between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
To do so he must fight Mairis Briedis which is a rematch of a thrilling battle the pair had back in July of 2022 when Opetaia came out with a unanimous decision win to lift the IBF world title for the first time.
Earlier in the year, he was brought in as sparring for Fury and rumours circulated that he had knocked ‘The Gypsy King’ down which is why he left camp early and he has now spoken about that with Seconds Out.
“It was a great experience. I’m so grateful to be called into that camp, being surrounded by other champions and world-class athletes, it’s just a whole other learning curve to be part of their camp for a week and a bit to see how they do things. It was all positive. He earned my respect and I’m sure I earned his.
Opetaia was asked how long he stayed and why he left.
“I was there a week. If i wasn’t fighting on the same card I would have stayed longer. I’m fighting Breidis, I’m not fighting someone 6ft9, so it didn’t make too much sense for me to stay around, and I needed some orthodox sparring. We thought it would be smart to come home and finish our camp so we did.”
He was then asked about the rumours.
“All b******t It’s annoying reporters spread absolute lies.”
That should well be the end of that.
