Jai Opetaia TKO8 Noel Mikaelian... Reigning Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia became the first fighter to stop Noel Mikaelian as he notched the 24th knockout victory of his 31-0 career.  The southpaw versus orthodox matchup produced some awkward moments early on, with two big head clashes leaving Opetaia with swelling just to the side of his left eye after the opening round.  If boxing were not a corrupt sport, Opetaia would be the WBC and IBF champion. As it stands, however, the WBC is still deciding what to do now that Mikaelian has lost its title, and Opetaia is suing the IBF for stripping him earlier this year. After tonight's victory, Opetaia called for a fight against WBO/WBA David Benavidez, who stepped through the ropes to respectfully accept the fight as the pair verbally agreed to face off in a title unification bout further down the line.

 

Officially, Opetaia won seven of the eight completed rounds on all three scorecards. After three tight, cagey rounds, Opetaia loaded up in the fourth, and a thumping left upper cut, followed by a left hook, seemed to briefly freeze Mikaelian (28-4). As the bout headed into the middle rounds, the difference between the two fighters became more apparent, with Opetaia’s shots starting to have more of an effect on the sturdy, but slightly slowing, Mikaelian. Openings that weren’t there for Opetaia in the first two or three rounds were presenting themselves through the middle rounds as he started to land cleaner shots more frequently on the German-Armenian champion.

 

Then Mikaelian had a big moment in the seventh, as a short right cross spun Opetaia’s jaw and appeared to put the Australian in trouble. The Zuffa Boxing champion was forced to hold on to buy time to recover, and duly did so before resuming his work once again.

 

The bout was scrappy throughout, with referee Harvey Dock almost as busy as the two fighters as he tried to keep the action clean. Then, in the ninth, the referee had to step in and wisely call a stop to the fight. Midway through the round, Opetaia loaded up again and cracked Mikaelian with a hat-trick of huge shots that punched Mikaelian to a standstill. Then a huge right hand sent him falling backward, with only the ropes keeping him up.

 

Dock stepped in to administer a standing eight-count, but quickly saw that Mikaelian was in no position to continue and waved off the fight. It gave Opetaia a hard-earned ninth-round TKO victory, and took his perfect career record to 31-0, with 24 stoppages.