Jai Opetaia has insisted on carrying himself like the defending IBF titlist, even if the sanctioning body is prepared to cease recognition of his reign.
BoxingScene has confirmed that Australia’s Opetaia, 29-0 (23 KOs), and Atlanta’s Brandon Glanton, 21-3 (18 KOs), plan to weigh in a second time Sunday morning for a rehydration weight check customary with IBF title fights. The decision was made despite a prior ruling from the organization withdrawing its sanctioning from Sunday’s “Zuffa Boxing 04” main event.
Opetaia is still the recognized lineal and Ring Magazine champion, while the inaugural Zuffa championship is also at stake – the latter of which became a breaking point for the IBF.
Both Opetaia and Glanton were on weight at Saturday’s official pre-fight weigh-in ahead of their scheduled 12-round championship clash on Paramount+ from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Opetaia checked in at 199.5lbs, while Glanton came in right at the 200.0lbs mark.
Per IBF rules, participants must commit to a second weigh-in, often conducted on the morning of the fight. A 10lbs rehydration limit is imposed for all divisions from 140lbs on downward. From welterweight and up, it proportionally grows; IBF cruiserweight title fights carry a maximum same-day weight limit of 214lbs.
The decision was made since both boxers were already prepared to go this route and Opetaia technically still holds the IBF title, at least until he enters the ring on Sunday. As thoroughly outlined by BoxingScene on Friday, IBF president Daryl Peoples ruled that the New Jersey-based organization withdrew its sanctioning from the event.
The explanation offered was that Opetaia’s team informed the IBF that Sunday’s fight wasn’t to be considered a unification bout; rather, an IBF and Ring championship title defense, with the inaugural Zuffa belt viewed more as “a trophy or token of recognition.”
Event promotion has suggested anything but that. Zuffa went out of its way to bill the fight as being for “The Inaugural Zuffa Boxing Cruiserweight World Championship” as recently as in a Ring Magazine post on March 5 that was reposted by Zuffa’s social channel.
Opetaia openly mentioned the IBF and his desire to become undisputed champion. His stance even forced Zuffa – which has no desire to work with sanctioning bodies and whose business model does not recognize them – to comply with his wishes and allow the belt to be on display during Friday’s press conference at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Zuffa even noted that all three belts – IBF, Ring, Zuffa – were “all up for grabs” on Friday.
Additionally, BoxingScene has learned that Zuffa agreed to IBF rules, flying in a supervisor via first-class and putting him up in a hotel suite for fight week. A sanctioning fee in excess of $80,000 was reportedly wired to the IBF on Thursday and has since been received.
Somewhere in that span, the IBF decided to walk away from the fight and instructed its supervisor (Levi Martinez, of New Mexico) to no longer oversee the event.
Sunday’s second-day weigh-in will be administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and supervised by Zuffa Boxing.
Opetaia will make his eighth defense of the lineal championship and Ring Magazine title he claimed in a July 2022 victory over Mairis Briedis. He also earned the IBF belt that evening but was stripped of the title in December 2023 for facing an unranked challenger (Ellis Zorro) and additionally failing to comply with an ordered mandatory title defense versus Briedis.
The IBF belt was back at stake for Opetaia just one fight later, when he faced Briedis a second time and won their May 2024 rematch via unanimous decision. He has since made five successful defenses but appears to be at the end of his second reign once the bell sounds Sunday evening in Vegas.
