IBF plans to strip Jai Opetaia of cruiserweight title before Zuffa Boxing fight

A strange week of twists and turns appears to be culminating in Jai Opetaia being stripped of the IBF cruiserweight championship. Opetaia is set to make his Zuffa Boxing debut on Sunday when he faces Brandon Glanton for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight championship.

The Zuffa Boxing title has been a major sticking point for the IBF in the lead-up to the fight, and on Friday, the International Boxing Federation said in a statement that it will no longer sanction the fight. Thus, Opetaia will be stripped of his IBF championship by going ahead with the Zuffa Boxing bout. 

While Opetaia has made it clear that his focus is on unifying all recognized world championships, his decision to sign with Zuffa Boxing — a promotion that has made clear its intention to replace all sanctioning bodies (such as the IBF) from positions of power in the sport of boxing as a means of insuring the best fighters compete against one another more regularly — appears to have stopped him from accomplishing that goal.

“I can’t believe the IBF would try to do this to Jai, after all the years he spent fighting to earn that belt, but I will comment on the situation during the Zuffa Boxing press conference [on Sunday],” said Dana White, UFC CEO and Zuffa Boxing promoter. 

White said in January that he is focused on having the best boxers fight the best boxers, regardless of their relationships to sanctioning bodies.

The IBF reportedly issued an ultimatum to Opetaia earlier in the week that he must choose whether to defend the IBF title or contend for the vacant Zuffa Boxing title in his bout against Glanton.

Despite those reports, Opetaia stated during Friday’s press conference that both belts would be on the line, only for the IBF to subsequently announce hours later that they would no longer sanction the fight.

“The initial sanction followed discussions that began on Feb. 11, when IBF president Daryl Peoples, after learning about the contest on social media, reminded Opetaia’s representatives of IBF Rule 5, governing champions and unification bouts. After continued dialogue, on March 3, Opetaia’s team confirmed the fight would not be a unification and that any belt awarded by Zuffa would be ‘characterized as a trophy or token of recognition.’ The IBF has not had any discussion regarding this bout with any direct representative from Zuffa Boxing. However, the organization received assurances from Opetaia’s representatives that this would be the case. The IBF approved the bout under these conditions as the bout would no longer conflict with IBF Rule 5.E.2. […]

“The press conference held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, today [March 6] made it clear that the Zuffa world cruiserweight title would still be contested on March 8. The IBF reserves the right to sanction title bouts alongside other sanctioning bodies that comply with the same mandated regulations followed by the organization.”

While TKO, Zuffa Boxing’s parent company, is pushing for Congress to pass the Muhammad Ali American Revival Act, which seeks to create “Unified Boxing Organizations” and allow promotions to award their own championships and control their own rankings, that has not yet happened. As such, the Zuffa Boxing title for Opetaia vs. Glanton can only be a “trophy or token of recognition,” according to the IBF.

The IBF, which had been in communication with Zuffa Boxing and had a representative in attendance for Friday’s press conference, felt disrespected by the positioning of its title during the proceedings, sources close to the situation tell CBS Sports. The IBF belt was placed on the dias by Opetaia, the champion, with the Zuffa Boxing belt positioned between Opetaia and Glanton, who are competing for that title on Sunday.

Dan Rafael first reported the IBF’s stance on the matter.

Opetaia previously paid the IBF more than $80,000 as a required fee to defend the title in a sanctioned fight, sources tell CBS Sports. He is still planning to participate in a second weigh-in as required by IBF rules on fight day in hopes of defending the title.

Opetaia weighed in at 199.5 pounds on Saturday, while Glanton checked in at 200 pounds even, both successfully making the cruiserweight championship limit.  

If the impasse is not rectified by bell time at Zuffa Boxing 04 on Sunday, Opetaia will be stripped of the IBF championship for the second time in his career.

Opetaia originally won the IBF title in 2022, defeating Mairis Briedis despite breaking his jaw in two places during the bout. After one title defense, Opetaia was stripped of the belt. While he wanted to fight Ellis Zorro, the IBF mandated a rematch with Briedis to precede that bout; however, Briedis was not available as he was recovering from an injury.

Opetaia regained the title when the Briedis rematch materialized in May 2024. He has subsequently defended the title four times, with all four fights coming by way of stoppage.