Opetaia relinquishes his IBF belt

Australian Jai Opetaia (23-0, 18KOs) was originally scheduled to defend his IBF World cruiserweight title belt against Britain’s Ellis Zorro (17-0, 7KOs) at the mega-gala in Saudi Arabia on December 23.

But Zorro is not ranked by the IBF and the IBF has refused to allow this fight. Opetaia had to choose between the world title belt and a high-paying fight, and he chose the money, so the winner of Saturday’s match will only have the Ring Magazine belt around his waist.

For the vacant IBF belt will fight Latvian Mairis Briedis and the highest ranked available challenger.