Jai Opetaia has been the biggest signing for Zuffa Boxing, and now he has his first opponent set. Opetaia will face Brandon Glanton in the main event of Zuffa Boxing 04 on March 8 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Dana White announced on Tuesday. The fight will crown the first Zuffa world champion with the Zuffa Boxing world cruiserweight title on the line.
Opetaia (29-0, 23 KO) is the reigning IBF cruiserweight champion, having won the title with a 2022 decision over Mairis Briedis in a hard-fought battle that saw Opetaia break his jaw in two places. After a TKO of Jordan Thompson, Opetaia vacated the belt when the IBF ordered him to face Briedis in a rematch and the champ decided to face Ellis Zorro in a stay-busy fight while Briedis recovered from injury.
Opetaia would regain the title in his next fight, defeating Briedis by decision in their rematch. He has since made four successful title defenses, all by knockout. His knockout of Huseyin Cinkara was a runner-up in the 2025 CBS Sports Knockout of the Year.
The goal for Opetaia has been to unify the four world championships in the division, but he has been unable to make any unification bouts happen, instead being forced to face a string of middling competition, with an April 2025 win over Chris Billam-Smith as the standout title defense in that stretch.
In Glanton (21-3, 18 KO), Opetaia faces a fighter who has gone just 4-3 in his seven most recent fights. While that recent run may not look impressive on paper, Glanton lost to David Light by split decision, Soslan Asbarov by majority decision (Asbarov received a six-year suspension for a failed drug test after his next fight) and lost to Billam-Smith by a narrow unanimous decision, showing he can be competitive even in defeat.
Glanton has also shown big power against lower-tier opposition and will be able to make Opetaia pay if the Aussie is not careful.
Add Comment