Jai Opetaia successfully defended his IBF and The Ring cruiserweight world titles on the Gold Coast, but the victory came at a cost. The defending champion was left bloodied and with badly swollen eyes after a brutal contest that ended when he knocked out German challenger Hüseyin Cinkara in the eighth round with a powerful left hand. The 40-year-old Cinkara lay on the canvas for several minutes as medics attended to him before he was able to rise.
Despite the win, Opetaia expressed frustration with his performance. The 30-year-old Australian denied media access to his dressing room after the fight and later went to hospital for mandatory checks. 'I feel like I've let some people down with that performance,' Opetaia said in the ring. 'I just feel like I wasn't myself, I felt like I boxed like shit.'
Opetaia's difficulties may have stemmed from multiple factors, including his grandfather Billy Opetaia's illness, stalled unification talks with WBO and WBA champion Gilberto Ramírez, and the recent death of his former coach Keri Fui less than a month ago. The contest was also complicated by Cinkara's awkward southpaw style, leading to several head clashes that opened a gash under Opetaia's eye.
Cinkara briefly stunned Opetaia in the second round with a heavy shot that sent the champion rocking backwards, but Opetaia recovered quickly. He dominated most rounds with a high work rate and powerful body shots, ultimately securing his eighth world title defence with the eighth-round knockout. Opetaia's promoter, Mick Francis, renewed calls for a unification fight against Ramírez, noting that Opetaia would need to improve significantly for such a bout.
Earlier on the card, former bantamweight world champion Jason Moloney earned a TKO victory after consecutive defeats in Japan. Paris Olympian Teremoana Teremoana also impressed, flattening his heavyweight opponent within a round to move to 9-0 professionally. In the co-main event, 21-year-old Max McIntyre won the WBC Australasian super middleweight title with a knockout victory over Jed Morris.
