Former Tyson Fury Sparring Partner Jai Opetaia On Loss To Oleksandr Usyk

Jai Opetaia speaks to Umar from BoxNation reflecting on his IBF cruiserweight world title defence against Mairis Briedis in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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this is Omar for Box Nation I’m joined by Cruiserweight King GI oppai he’s back in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia I was just having a chat off camera with your manager Mick congratulations you’re got a baby due soon so there’s a lot happening in your life it’s all happening man you know when it rains at poor so but it’s good keeps me active absolutely you got you know to fight for yourself but you’re going to have a kid on the way so yeah more at stake for yourself in your career Jo for sure um you know family’s always been my motivation every day so it’s just it makes it even more special so it’s good man I’m pumped for it when we were here a couple of weeks ago um for the fury usit card of course spoke to your promoter Eddie and I said feels like J’s being a bit harsh on himself I know the the last few rounds were were grueling and tough but you’re fighting the second best Cruiser away in the world and myus has already shared a ring with you um so do you feel like looking back on it you a little bit harsh on your per performance um man but straight after the fight the way I felt I was you know I was not happy with my performance at all I’ve gone back I’ve watched it a bit you know I’ve learned I feel like it it was a good it’s a good learning stepping stone you know what I mean a good learning process so you know I feel like every every Champion goes through fights like this um but man it’s all positive you know I was a bit of you know straight after the fight I sort of I think I overthought it a bit too much after going back and watching it it was not as bad as what I thought but I still know I can do a lot better so everything’s happened so quickly for you I remember when you came to Wembley Arena and fought Jordan Thompson you know relatively unknown JY and you know your trajectory has been insane really especially with the rad season what’s happening here has it felt overwhelming a bit how quickly it’s moved man not really you know cuzz it’s been quick for the media and and quick for these you know big fights but BR we’ve been working a long time you know what I mean it’s been a long journey to get here for us you know it’s we we’ve gone we’ve taken the long route to get here so it it definitely hasn’t felt like our overnight success like a lot of people see it but um you know it’s good though you know I feel like we’ve done all the hard work that need to be needed to be done to get here and now we just it’s all fruit to the labor you know what I mean we we still got a lot of hard work to do you know we got a lot of hard work ahead of us but man we’re ready for it now we’re definitely becoming a established name within uh you know within boxing fans in the UK you’re well known there um especially with the Saudi time zones and the cars and the profile you’ve built in Australia do you feel like you still need to break that market Jo is that important to you um yeah definitely I feel like you know just with the it’s just the way boxing is you know what I mean the way um our sort of publicity works and and the contracts with certain you know promotion groups and stuff like that you know they hold sort of meteors and fox tails and stuff like but it is what it is you know what I mean like we’re not too upset about it or you know we don’t lose sleep over it why what is the situation over there I haven’t got an understanding oh BR honestly I I don’t get right into it to be honest so they’re um man we’re on a good path you know we’re we’re doing good things we’re here fighting on the world’s biggest stages so there’s nothing real negative to come from our side you know what I mean we’re moving in the right direction and as long as we just keep focusing on ourselves and and focusing on what we need to do the rest will just fall into place well we have got a big cruiserweight fight coming up in London of course at Crystal Palace Stadium between Chris bam Smith and Richard reak but as I said you got a baby juice soon so do you think you’ll be attending in London I don’t know they’ve asked me to come over but I’m not sure you know family’s got to come first oh even being over here it’s pretty hard you know what I mean I should be at home you know looking after her but you know we we all got to make sacrifices for what we need um so we we we just when I go home we we’ll we’ll think about it then is that your intention though the winner of that fight next definitely just and if not them just anyone with a belt you know what I mean that’s what I’m aiming for but at the end of the day I pretty much just fight whoever the Chic tells me to fight you know what I mean that’s that’s what my job is to do um but I definitely want to fight for another belt I want a unification fight have you got a pick in that fight do you know much about them well I know they’re both hearty boys and they they both really want to win you know what I mean it should be a good crack you know so yeah I’m just may the best man win and I I’ll see you after it do you think it’s inevitable that a move to heavyweight happens for yourself even Bridge your weight Jo yeah definitely I feel like that’s um definitely something down the track that we we’ll look forward to but um we’re not looking past what we have to do first you know we we got some boxes to ticket as the cruiserweight something interesting that his Excellency I’ve heard talk about a couple of times and I interviewed Demitri bivel as he’s fighting this week during the week um and that’s a fight that he’s talked about you and Demitri bival thoughts on that J yeah man and I would man respectfully I’d love to share the ring with bble you know he’s an amazing fighter I feel like he’s a good guy as well you know he’s he’s not one of those talk Fighters he just lets his boxing do the talking um man I’d love to fight a fighter like that you know and I wouldn’t be able to make 175b I tell you that he to come up yeah exactly so it’s um man if if that fight comes man I’d love to you know we take that fight with both hands but you know until then it’s just all words okay just away from yourself J on the card that you boxed last week whole world was talking about what happened with Alexander usk and Tyson Fury just want to get your opinion I don’t know if you’ve watched the fight but what went wrong in your opinion for Tyson Fury joh I didn’t get to watch it all you know I went straight to the hospital after my fight and then I watch bits and pieces of it and stuff so but it’s not so much I think stuff went wrong it’s just y’s a great fighter you know what I mean it just yeah I probably got to sit down and watch it properly you know what I mean to be able to give you a better answer okay fair enough is he an inspiration to you Alexander usk or not oh he’s been inspiration any fighter you know what I mean he’s a from from where he’s come from to where he is now it’s huge for you know any weight division just the hard work the the dedication he puts in it’s it’s crazy and all the stuff he’s going through with his country and the war and he’s just stayed he’s just kept training hard and stayed focused and you know didn’t let that Diles focus and stuff of course it it’ Inspire anyone that that rematch that they’re going to have Tyson Alexander are you backing are you picking Alexander in that fight I don’t know yet I don’t know who I’m picking fight would like yeah I’d like to watch the first fight but also just the way they they train as well you know the preparation and stuff like that like I feel like that’s a big key to the the winners of these fights how do you think you fair at heavyweight Jo yeah I think I’ll do real well there um just the last one I you know I’ve spoke to a lot of cruiserweights a lot of heavy weights about a rising star from the UK heavyweight Moses atmer I know he’s in Tyson’s camp for the us6 fight um of course you were but then you had to fly home and prepare for your own fight with with mys but do you know about Mo has he impressed you yeah man he is impressive you know and he’s only young so it’s um sky’s the limit for him you know what I mean he’s got the skill the ability like I I remember seeing him Spar at uh the camp when I at tson Fury Camp that’s when I first met him and then the performance he put on the last guy like he’s a great fighter he’s only 19 years old yeah he’s young man makes me feel old well you still got plenty in the in the in the tank left joh and uh look hopefully we see you in London for that fight with bam Smith from reao but you’ve got bigger things with your child coming along the way so congratulations on that and uh hopefully see you back in the ring uh very soon anything you want to say Jo actually I have forgot Ryan Garcia came to your changing room after your fight last week in R he’s a big fan of you he was he was loving your fight uh ringside what did he say to you br he’s actually a good kid like he’s a he’s a funny dude um you know he does a lot of stuff on publicity but I think he’s I honestly just think he’s having fun you know he’s just trolling the internet and stuff so you know he’s making his money he’s doing what he’s got to do so head off to him okay listen Jo appreciate your time on box notion and hopefully see you back in the ring soon thank you I appreciate it God bless