In a dramatic turnaround that took place in one day, the International Boxing Federation has officially withdrawn its sanction for Jai Opetaia’s cruiserweight title defense against Brandon Glanton.
The withdrawal came hours after Zuffa Boxing posted on social media that the fight would feature the IBF cruiserweight championship, and after Opetaia himself confirmed at a press conference on Friday that the IBF belt was being defended. This announcement and withdrawal appear to have occurred in the same news cycle, ending a week of growing confusion surrounding the status of the title.
The fight, which will headline Zuffa Boxing 04 on Sunday at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, will now only feature the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight championship and The Ring magazine title. Opetaia (29-0, 23 KO) still holds the IBF belt as of this writing, but the sanctioning body’s rules could force an immediate vacancy. In accordance with Principle 5.H. An IBF champion who competes in an unsanctioned competition within the recommended weight limit forfeits the title regardless of the result.
A week of mixed signals
The timeline tells the story. Earlier this week This was reported by Salvador Rodriguez from ESPN that the IBF gave Opetaia an ultimatum: defend the IBF title or fight for the Zuffa belt, but not both. The IBF refused to allow his championship to appear alongside the newly created promotional title. An IBF spokesman said the organization was still considering the matter and would not make a public statement. Opetaia responded by completely denying the reports. He was unequivocal at the press conference. At another point in the week, he told The Sun that the reports were fabricated. Then on Friday, Zuffa released the IBF title as part of the fight settlement. A few hours later, the IBF withdrew the sanctions.
It is unclear whether Zuffa’s statement forced the IBF’s hand or if the timing was coincidental. It is clear that the sanctioning body made its decision after Zuffa publicly stated that the title was at stake.
What’s going on with the belt?
The IBF withdrawal raises an immediate question: Will Opetaia be stripped of her title? The principle is clear. If the champion fights in his weight class in an unsanctioned fight, the title is declared vacant – win or lose. Opetaia has been through this before. At the end of 2023, the IBF stripped him of his eligibility to fight Ellis Zorro on the Riyad season card, instead facing mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis. He regained the belt six months later with a unanimous decision over Briedis in May 2024 and has since made four successful defenses.
If the IBF strips Opetaia again, the sanctioning body is expected to order a fight between the highest-ranked available contenders to fill the vacancy. This reshuffles the cruiserweight division at a critical time. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez will defend his WBA and WBO titles against David Benavidez on May 2 at T-Mobile Arena. Opetaia targeted the winner to gain undisputed status. Without the IBF belt, this fight – if it happens – would be a unification fight rather than an undisputed coronation.
The bigger picture
The withdrawal is the clearest signal yet that the IBF – and potentially other major sanctioning bodies – will not passively co-exist with Zuffa’s parallel title structure. As BoxingInsider detailed last week, the conflict has always come down to whether the IBF will enforce its own rules or look the other way. The answer came on Friday and it was execution.
The contradiction at the heart of the Zuffa Boxing model remains unresolved. Dana White has openly stated that he wants to eliminate sanctioning bodies. His most significant player needs these bodies to achieve his intended career goal. Opetaia has repeatedly stated that the reason he is fighting is to become the undisputed cruiserweight champion. This requires holding all four major titles at once – IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO – and that has become much more arduous.
Sunday’s Zuffa Boxing 04 main card begins at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount+, and Opetaia is the bulky favorite to become the promotion’s first champion. He will almost certainly win. Whether he wakes up on Monday still holding the IBF belt is a completely different fight – and one that neither he nor Zuffa Boxing has won.
“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.
“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”
“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”
“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.
“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.
Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.
Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.
Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.
Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.
On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.
Perfect record
Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.
Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.
The numbers are tough to understand even now.
Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.
But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.
By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.
Why fans never bought it
The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.
His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.
Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.
Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.
WBC
Boxing has seen this before
Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.
As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.
Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.
More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.
The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.
Still one of the strangest
Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.
Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.
More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.
That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.
About the author
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
One of the most coveted fights in boxing right now is the lithe heavyweight clash between unified champion Dmitry Bivol and WBC ruler David Benavidez for the undisputed 175-pound crown.
However, two-division world champion Teofimo Lopez believes that the fight could end in a “massacre”.
“The Mexican Monster” has since won the unified cruiserweight crown, but maintains he would be willing to cut weight to face Bivol and claim the undisputed honors.
Speaking on Inside The Ring programLopez renamed Benavidez the “Massacre Monster” when discussing the potential fight, believing the age difference between the two lithe heavyweight champions could be crucial to the outcome of the fight.
“I’m going to call Benavidez a ‘massacre monster’ because, man, [that performance against Ramirez] it was nasty. It’s really nasty, really.
“He [Benavidez] enters its flowering period, while the other [Bivol] is on the way out. You have to think about these things too.”
Bivol fulfilled his IBF obligation by defending his belts against Michael Eifert last weekend, but the WBO ordered him to face mandatory challenger Callum Smith in order to retain the WBO belt.
As a result, it appears that a potential Bivol-Benavidez clash will have to wait until 2027, with Beterbiev also being considered for the trilogy.
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