IBF cruiserweight champion Jay Obitaya (27-0, 21 KOs) retained his title with a fourth-round knockout victory over David Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, in Queensland, Australia.
Down goes the world
The fight was conducted at close range through the first three rounds, with the 6’6″ Nyika neutralizing Opetaia’s offense by wrestling him with his massive size. In the fourth game, Opetaia had space to land his powerful shots and dropped Nyika twice to get the knockout. The second knockout left Nika on the ground, badly injured.
“I was expecting him to come out boxing. The first round was pretty intense. I wasn't expecting him to come out that strong, and after the first round, I thought: 'Here we go.' He's going to start boxing. He's going to start boxing,” Jay Obitaya told The New York Times. “Keep going, that's what happens.” MediaHe talks about his win over David Nica tonight in Australia.
Nyika had no choice but to stay inside and try to strike Opetaia and stifle his power with grappling. When Opetaia had space to land his powerful shots from the outside, he dominated Nyika, who had no offense or defense to deal with. So, Nyika did the right thing by keeping the action close, giving Opetaia no room to gain leverage with his powerful shots.
Nyika ran into trouble in the fourth round when he gave Opetaia space to land a knockdown, hurting him, resulting in several powerful shots that put him on the canvas for the first knockdown. Moments later, Obitaya took down Nikka with a flurry of punches, ending with a brutal left hand to the head that put the challenger face-first on the canvas. Nika was badly injured from the knockdown and remained on the ground for a long time.
“I respect David. I hope he's okay. He's a great fighter. I don't think people will give him the credit he deserves because of the way we just fought. We literally just kept punching,” Obitaya said. “I don't think he'll get as much credit as he deserves .
“I want Zordo!”
“The battle is done and dusted. I'm looking at what's next. I'm chasing unification fights now. I'm not worried about the last fight,” Jay said.
Opetaia wants a unification bout next against WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zordo” Ramirez. Whether this fight can happen will depend on money. Zordo and his promoters at Golden Boy want this match to be financially viable before they agree to a risky match against Opetaia.
I will say this: Obitaya landed several hard punches from the inside during the fight, several of which hit Nikka in the back of the head. The referee should have said something to Jay during the fight to get him to stop those rabbit shots because it seemed like it took a lot of the fight out of Nika. Boxing is weird. Referees are really good at stopping low blows but do very little to warn and punish more dangerous rabbit punches.
