Jai Opetaia stops Jack Massey in six, eyes Billam-Smith vs Zurdo winner

Jai Opetaia took care of business against Jack Massey.

Jai Opetaia retained his IBF cruiserweight title with a dominant win over Jack Massey today in Riyadh.

The fight ended at 2:00 of round six when Massey’s corner threw the towel, with their fighter looking like he possibly had a broken nose and taking a beating.

Opetaia (26-0, 20 KO) continues to look like the most menacing fighter in the cruiserweight division, and made the first defense of his second reign as IBF champion, which had been stripped from him late last year for opting to fight Ellis Zorro instead of waiting on Mairis Briedis.

This is important to note here, because while the chatter is about Opetaia facing the Chris Billam-Smith vs Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez winner, you have to remember that he has an IBF mandatory due against Huseyin Cinkara, and if he doesn’t do that fight, he will be stripped of the belt. The IBF — which has its own flaws, like tons of terrible mandatory challengers — is the one sanctioning body of the four that matter that does pretty strictly follow its own rules.

“I knew Jack was gonna come to fight, nothing but respect for him and his family,” Opetaia said. “I’m hoping (unification) comes, man. We’ll see what happens.”