When is Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton?
Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton is on Sunday, March 8. The main broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (2 a.m. BST). A preliminary undercard will start at 5:30 p.m. ET (10:30 p.m. BST).
What channel is Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton on?
Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton will stream on Paramount+.
Where is Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton?
The fight is taking place at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Who is Jai Opetaia?
Opetaia, 29-0 (23 KOs), is the king of cruiserweight division – he will be making the eighth defense of his lineal and Ring Magazine championships, as well as the sixth defense of his IBF belt (split between two reigns).
For some time, Opetaia has remained at 200lbs while hoping for unification matches. And yet he recently signed with Zuffa Boxing, a promotion that wants to establish its own championships rather than work with the sanctioning bodies. Opetaia has been told that Zuffa will allow him to continue to aim for the other alphabet titles.
The 30-year-old from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, first won his championship in July 2022, when he defeated Mairis Briedis by unanimous decision. But Opetaia made only one defense of the IBF belt before ditching it, persuaded instead to take a larger payday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, against Ellis Zorro in December 2023. He remained the lineal and Ring champion.
He then regained the still-vacant IBF title in May 2024, back again in Riyadh, earning it with another unanimous decision over Briedis in their rematch. He fought in Saudi Arabia one more time in October 2024, stopping Jack Massey in six rounds. Opetaia’s three bouts in 2025 were all at home, where he knocked out the 10-0 David Nyika in the fourth round in January; took out the 17-0 Claudio Squeo in the fifth round in June; and put away mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara in the eighth round in December.
The other cruiserweight titles belong to Noel Mikaelyan (WBC) and Gilberto Ramirez (WBA/WBO), who will defend against visiting light heavyweight titleholder David Benavidez on May 2.
Who is Brandon Glanton?
Glanton, 21-3 (18 KOs), is a fan-friendly 34-year-old fighter from Atlanta, Georgia, who remains a fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. His introduction to many boxing fans came because of an absolute war with Efe Apochi in 2021, which Glanton won via split decision on a Premier Boxing Champions broadcast.
Glanton suffered his first defeat in December 2022, losing a split decision to the 19-0 David Light, who then went on to challenge Lawrence Okolie for a cruiserweight title. Glanton, meanwhile, suffered his second straight loss when he dropped a majority decision to the 3-0 Soslan Asbarov in March 2023.
That led to some rebuilding for Glanton. He scored three consecutive knockouts, including traveling to Moscow to face the once-beaten Aleksei Egorov. After getting hurt by a headbutt in the 11th round, Glanton promptly put Egorov down for the count with a well-placed body shot. Glanton then landed a match with former titleholder Chris Billam-Smith last April on the undercard of the first megafight featuring Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn.
Glanton vs. Billam-Smith promised punishment on paper and gave exactly that in reality, providing one heck of an appetizer before the grueling main event. Alas, Glanton lost a unanimous decision. He returned barely five months later, stopping Marcus Browne after six rounds in Nigeria in October. (In 2024 and 2025, Glanton also competed in the Team Combat League, which is now known as the Team Boxing League, going 7-7 in one-round bouts on 11 shows.)
Glanton’s performances, including competitive losses, have him ranked 15th by the IBF, just barely qualifying under the sanctioning body’s rules for this title shot; . Glanton is also rated eighth by the WBC and 11th by the WBO. This is his first title shot, and it should be fun while it lasts. Glanton’s nickname is “Bulletproof,” and that reputation will be put to the test against Opetaia’s power.
What other fights are on the undercard of Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton?
The undercard includes a welterweight bout between Ricardo Salas Rodriguez, 22-2-2 (16 KOs), and Jesus Saracho, 16-2-2 (12 KOs); as well as a match between featherweights Adan Palma, 14-0 (9 KOs), and Pablo Rubio Jnr, 14-0 (5 KOs).
The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
