Jai Opetaia (born 30 June 1995) is an Australian professional boxer.
He held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) from 2022 until 2023 (he vacated the title due to a disagreement with the IBF).
He currently holds the Ring magazine and lineal cruiserweight titles.
2011
Less than a month after his 16th birthday, Opetaia travelled to Kazahkstan to compete in the 2011 Junior World Championships and would win the gold medal in the light heavyweight division by defeating Germany's Melvin Perry 5:3 in the final.
His victory marked the first time an Australian had won a junior boxing world championship.
2012
As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2012 Youth World Championships and represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics and 2014 Commonwealth Games.
As of February 2023, Opetaia is ranked the world's best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine, and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, second by BoxRec, and third best by ESPN.
Opetaia was born in Sydney, New South Wales and is of Samoan and European Australian heritage.
He comes from a boxing family of four generations on his father's side and three generations on his mother's side, as well as sharing notable relations to Australia's greatest ever football goal scorer Tim Cahill and former New Zealand international rugby league player Ben Roberts.
In February 2012, still aged 16, he travelled to Hobart to compete in the 2012 Australian Olympic qualifying tournament where he would win the gold medal in the heavyweight division.
A month later he competed in the Oceanic Olympic qualifying tournament held in Canberra and once again emerged victorious in the heavyweight final by defeating New Zealander David Light 15:10.
In doing so, Opetaia became the youngest boxer to ever make an Australian Olympic team.
In the lead up to the 2012 Olympics, Opetaia travelled to Armenia to compete in the heavyweight division of the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and claimed the bronze medal, losing a close 11:9 semifinal to eventual gold medalist Andrey Stotskiy from Russia.
2014
In 2014, at the age of 19, Opetaia made the decision to end his amateur career in pursuit of a professional career.
2017
A month after his 17th birthday, he travelled to London to compete as the youngest boxer in the heavyweight division of the Olympics and was controversially defeated in the first round 12:11 by eventual bronze medalist Teymur Mammadov from Azerbaijan.
Opetaia was scheduled to face Daniel Ammann for the vacant WBC-OPBF and Australian cruiserweight titles on July 15, 2017.
He won the fight by a ninth-round technical knockout.
Opetaia was next scheduled to face Frankie Lopez for the vacant IBF Youth cruiserweight title on October 21, 2017.
He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout.
2018
Opetaia made his first Australian Cruiserweight title defense against Benjamin Kelleher on January 17, 2018.
He won the fight by a third-round technical knockout.
Opetaia fought for yet another regional title on April 7, 2018, when he was set to face Lukas Paszkowsky for the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific cruiserweight title.
He won the fight by a second-round technical knockout.
Opetaia made his first WBO Asia-Pacific cruiserweight title defense against Kurtis Pegoraro on June 29, 2018.
The fight was simultaneously a fight for the vacant IBF Pan-Pacific cruiserweight title.
He won the fight by a second-round knockout.
2019
Opetaia fought Navosa Ioata for the vacant WBA Oceania interim cruiserweight title on May 15, 2019, and won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout.
Opetaia made his first title defense two months later, on July 27, 2019, against Nikolas Charalampous, while also fighting for the vacant WBO Global cruiserweight title.
He won the fight by unanimous decision.
Opetaia made the first defense of these two titles, and fought for the inaugural IBF Asia-Oceania cruiserweight title, against Mark Flanagan on November 16, 2019.
He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout.
2020
In mid-2020, Opetaia relocated his training base to the Gold Coast in an attempt further his career and secure a world title boxing bout, a dream that would become a reality two years later in front of his new hometown fans at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Opetaia was scheduled to defend his IBF Asia-Oceania and WBO Global cruiserweight titles in a rematch with Benjamin Kelleher on October 22, 2020.
He won the fight by a sixth-round technical knockout.
Opetaia was scheduled to challenge the reigning IBF, The Ring and lineal cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis on 6 April 2022.
The bout was postponed on February 16, as Briedis tested positive for COVID-19.
The bout was rescheduled for 11 May, and was expected to take place at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.
The bout was once again postponed on April 8, as Opetaia suffered a rib injury, and rescheduled for July 2.
Opetaia won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–112, 116–112 and 115–113.
During the fight, Opetaia badly broke his jaw in two places.
