Briedis defends IBF belt against Opetaia in Australia

Mairus Beidus from Latvia defends his IBF cruiserweight belt against Jai Opetaia of Australia on Saturday at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia.

The 37-year-old Briedis (28-1; 20) has an outstanding record and the only loss in his career came against the current WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on a split decision for the WBC cruiserweight belt on 27 January 2018, in the semifinal of the World Boxing Super series.

He is considered the number one fighter in the division and won his first world title in April 2017 when he beat Marco Huck for the WBC cruiserweight belt and made a successful defence against Mike Perez.

Briedis would also win the WBO cruiserweight belt on 15 June 2019 with a third-round technical knockout win over Krzysztof Glowacki (24-1) in the last four of the second edition of the World Boxing Super Series, rather than giving Glowacki a rematch.

However, he was stripped of the WBO belt for taking part in World Boxing Super Series.

He won the Muhammad Ali Trophy and took the the IBF cruiserweight belt on a majority points decision against Yuniel Dorticos in September 2020.

In his most recent fight in October last year he stopped Artur Mann in three rounds.

The 26-year-old Opetaia, (21-0; 17) who is rated at No 4 by the IBF, made his pro debut in August 2015 and has won the Australian, OPBF, IBF Youth, WBO Asia Pacific, WBF Pan Pacific, WBA Oceania, WBO Global, IBF Asia Oceana and WBF Asia Oceana titles.

In his most recent fight in December last year he stopped Daniel Russell in the third round.

The only hope for Opetaia is that the much older Briedis has aged overnight, and one of the betting sites has Breidis at minus 210 and Opetaia at plus 165.

The other main organisation champions are WBA, Arsen Goulamarian (Armenia), WBC, Ilunga Makabu (DRC) and WBO, Lawrence Okolie (England).