EYES may turn to Australia for a big-time cruiserweight unification clash between Jai Opetaia and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez sat atop a ’10-fight supercard.’
Opetaia, 28-0 (22 KOs), scored a third straight knockout when halting Claudio Squeo yesterday, continuing his run of stoppages in a trifecta of defences during his second reign as IBF cruiserweight champion.
However, since returning to the throne, the undefeated Aussie has been vocal in his demands to take on unified WBA and WBO titleholder, Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, 47-1 (30 KOs), for a three-belt unification scrap.
Although Riyadh has often been touted as the potential location for any potential fight, Opetaia’s promoter Mick Francis told Code Sports of his ambitions to stage the clash on home soil, with the help of government funding.
“This fight has been building for a while, and it’s a stadium fight, but the State government has to get behind it. We had some guys here tonight from Experience Gold Coast, and they brought a couple of State dignitaries along. If they want to make it happen, they’ll make it happen.
“I would suggest to put a major event on at Suncorp [Stadium], you’d need $9 million or $10 million from the State government. But they’d get it back ten-fold. If you put it on at the right time of year, it’ll definitely sell out.”
Yet, in order to make the event an unmissable one, Francis highlighted the importance of working together with rival promoters, hoping to stage a one-of-a-kind show that features each and every elite level fighter in the country.
“We need to work with other promoters and join forces. If we went to the State government and said we want to put Jai Opetaia, Tim Tszyu, Justis Huni, Conor Wallace and George Kambosos on, we would get the funding.
“Every one of those fighters has a big name, and they’re all good guys. Tim’s a great guy, we can put Nikita [Tszyu] on too. Make it a 10-fight supercard. We’d do that in a heartbeat.”
From the names mentioned, three fought at the weekend, whilst Kambosos fights on Saturday night and Tim Tszyu fights next month – meaning that the timelines could align for a mammoth card later in the year if promoters are willing to work with one another.
Whilst Francis is targeting the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, which staged Pacquiao-Horn in 2017, Opetaia has indicated that he would prefer to headline in front of a hometown crowd at the 20,059-seater Industree Group Stadium in Gosford.
