Jai Opetaia has beaten everything put before him in his 25 professional boxing bouts, but he faced a knockout punch in his latest appearance on Sky Sports. The 29-year-old, who currently holds the Ring Magazine and lbF ineal cruiserweight titles, is preparing to face Jack Massey in his latest title defense.

The two will compete on October 13 in Saudi Arabia during the main event of the Dimitri Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev fight.

Opetai’s defense against the European and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion will be his third straight fight in the Middle East and is considered the toughest test of his career to date.

The Australian appears to be taking an aggressive approach to this, if his latest TV interview is anything to go by. Ahead of his first fight since defeating Mairis Briedis in May, he didn’t hold back when talking about his career on Sky this week.

“I used to think that this attitude: when I win the world title, it will solve all my problems,” he said. “But unfortunately I had a few run-ins with some filthy promoters and things didn’t always go according to plan. “I won the world title and the next day I woke up the same. You can’t eat fucking gold belts.”

This comment was deemed inappropriate for live broadcast and was immediately interrupted by the presenter. “The broadcasting rules are a bit different here, you can’t swear,” he said. “Sorry”.

Not that the Sydney star was too concerned. After accepting his low answer, he continued: “It means something to me, it lifts my spirits. We have suffered a lot of pain and sacrifice for these things.

“The belts are just bonuses now, I used to strive for them, but I only think about winning these fights. We want to be the undisputed cruiserweight champion. We want to collect belts and then we want to move up and get more belts in bridgeweight or heavyweight.”

Opetaia was again warned on Sky that the “broadcasting rules are slightly different”, but not before he stressed his desire to destroy his excellent professional achievements. His clash with Massey will be part of a star-studded card in Riyad that will also feature Chris Eubank Jr vs. Kamil Szeremeta and Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke.

“A three-division world champion sounds good. I am the best cruiser in the world,” he added. “It’s effortless to say that. I just have to keep proving it. I have to prove it again on December 12, prove it in my next fight and continue to collect these belts.”

Opetaia, who represented Australia at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was named the best vigorous cruiserweight in the world by The Ring magazine. However, he is not the only boxer to have breached Sky’s screen policy – the likes of David Haye and Tyson Fury have previously been warned for their language while appearing on air.

Lamont Roach says there is no comparison between him and Frank Martin as it looks like he will be far superior to his compatriot, dethroning Gervonta Davis.

Davis is scheduled to defend his WBA lightweight world title against Roach in Houston on December 14 on PBC’s Prime pay-per-view, although the fight has not yet been officially announced.

Roach will move up to 135 pounds from 130 pounds, where he holds the WBA crown, and says he poses a much tougher challenge than Martin, whom “Tank” defeated in eight rounds in June.

“With all due respect, I’m not Frank Martin,” the 29-year-old said Talking about cigars.

“Frank Martin started boxing at the age of 15?

“He didn’t have the experience to play with someone as skilled and experienced as he was.

“I have the same skill level as Tank.

“I had the same experience as Tank.

“I’ve got the reflexes, I’ve got the skills, I’m damn sure I’ve got the IQ.”

“The Reaper” has faced Davis twice in amateur competition and lost by decision both times.

Washington has won six wins since taking a unanimous decision to fight Jamel Herring for the WBC super featherweight world title in 2019, securing the WBA crown via split decision Hector Luis Garcia in November 2023, whom ‘Tank’ knocked out 10 months earlier.

Davis, who hails from neighboring Baltimore, has won 28 of his 30 professional fights by knockout, but Roach says he has the strength to counter the 29-year-old’s power.

“What makes people think I’m going to end up like these guys who had no experience and no skills?” he added.

“I think I have a nice chin.

“I was hit on the chin a few times.

“Nobody ever dropped me.

“No one has ever seen me hurt in any fight.

“The power may be slightly different.”

Tyson Fury has revealed his plans to keep the same line-up for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, despite calls for his father to be removed from his corner.

Usyk, a Ukrainian boxer, made history by becoming the first man to defeat the “Gypsy King” in a professional match in May. The 37-year-old secured a split decision victory in Riyad, with the ninth round proving crucial as Usyk landed several powerful punches, almost knocking Fury out.

The British boxer was severely dazed and was saved by the bell, leading many to believe that the fight should have been stopped.

The two will face each other again in December in what is expected to be an invigorating night of boxing. After their first fight, Fury’s corner, including his father John, faced backlash after footage revealed they told Fury he was leading and didn’t need to look for a break.

Ultimately, only one judge agreed with this, and the other two voted in favor of Usyk. This led to numerous calls for Tyson to remove his father from the team before the rematch.

However, Tyson declared that he would not change his approach before the upcoming rematch. During a frank conversation with Paul Dempsey ahead of the release of the recent boxing game “Undisputed,” he was asked about tactical planning for his second fight with Usyk.

“Not much time,” he replied. “I know what I have to do, nothing drastic. People may say, “I want to change the coach, or I’ll blame the physical trainer, or I’ll blame the cook, or I’ll blame the coach.” the mouse next door. Same team, same everything. I know what I have to do.

“I thought I won the fight last time. I give him boxing his whole life and watching boxing his whole career, I give him rounds eight, nine and ten, and round nine is 10-8. So that’s what I’m giving it away from the fight, but of course the judges saw it a bit differently, a few of them just made me win.

Reflecting on the aftermath of their May meeting, Peter Fury, who guided his nephew to his inaugural world title triumph against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, criticized the overabundance of guidance during the fight. “There should only be one person in the corner, there shouldn’t be three or four,” he said. “Some people are too emotional in the corner and some people give bad advice.

“I think the only person who spoke any sense at the last minute was Sugar Hill, who said put him on it. When you get into a fight, it doesn’t matter who it is, it could be a family member, but you have to give precise, clear information, and I always tell the fighter, “Are you listening, are you understanding what I just told you?”

“There were too many people, but maybe Tyson wants it, I don’t know, it’s been years since he contacted me. I don’t know what the situation is, but for me clearly the game plan was bad and only one should be speaking. How can you listen to all this? It’s getting a bit panicky and everywhere.

“I always said I couldn’t be bought in boxing. If someone is talking in the corner, I would say shut up now or leave through the back. This has happened before. I’m not there when something happens in this corner, you’re the bucket guy, wash the rubber cover, wipe his head, don’t say anything. This is their order and if they speak up when they go back to the locker room you will be fired on the spot you need to have a professional corner.”

With the rematch just around the corner, Tyson Fury admitted he has not started training camp yet. About his preparations, he said: “I haven’t started training yet. I won’t be going to camp for a while. Today I think I have 13 weeks left until my fight. So I’ll probably start training in about six weeks, I usually train for these fights for about six/seven weeks and I’ll be ready to give it my all on the night.