Jai Opetaia had little trouble in his latest championship defense.

The reigning RING and IBF cruiserweight king turned away the challenge of England’s Jack Massey. Opetaia bludgeoned Massey en route to a sixth-round stoppage to retain his crown Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Australia’s Opetaia fought for the third straight time at this venue as part of the ongoing Riyadh Season series. The 29-year-southpaw from Sydney was in complete control versus a determined but overmatched Massey, who was in his first career title fight.

The night marked the fourth RING championship defense for Opetaia (26-0, 20 knockouts). He immediately took the fight to Massey and consistently landed the more telling blows.

Massey (22-3, 12 KOs) was forced to contend with a cut on the bridge of his nose, the result of Opetaia’s heavy jab and right hook.

Opetaia continued to land with power shots in round four. Massey enjoyed singular success with his right but it was overshadowed by Opetaia’s body work, flush straight lefts and chopping right hooks.

The course of the bout remained in one direction in the sixth. Opetaia was on the attack and drove Massey into the ropes. The failure by the challenger to turn things around was enough for head trainer Joe Gallagher to literally throw in the title.

Massey snapped a two-fight win streak. His prior defeats came to a then-unbeaten Richard Riakporhe and—in a move to heavyweight—former WBO titleholder Joseph Parker.

Opetaia first claimed the IBF and Ring championship in a July 2022 points win over Mairis Briedis in Australia’s Gold Coast. He made one successful defense of both before he was stripped of the IBF ahead of a first-round knockout of Ellis Zorro last Dec. 21 at this venue.

Action was taken by the IBF due to Zorro not being ranked by the sanctioning body, and Opetaia committed to face Briedis in an ordered rematch. Fittingly, the two met for the vacant title on the May 18 Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury undercard. Opetaia was in control for much of the night but forced to survive a late scare. His performance was more than good enough to regain the IBF belt and retain his Ring crown.

All eyes are now on the Nov. 16 Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez-Chris Billam-Smith WBA/WBO cruiserweight title unification bout at this location. Opetaia would very much like to face the winner. Either fighter would make for a terrific option anywhere in the world in 2025.

“I’m hoping that comes,” Opetaia told DAZN’s Chris Mannix after his win. “My team just whispered in my ear that’s who’s next. But thank you to (Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority chairman) Turki Alalshikh for making this happen. I’m ready to fight whoever he says.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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