BoxRec

JAI OPETAIA VS. CLAUDIO SQUEO SET FOR MAY 13 IN GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA

It was officially announced by Matchroom Boxing, that Ring and IBF cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) is set to make his second outing of 2025.

Opetaia will return to the ring on May 13, back to the Gold Coast in Australia, when he faces undefeated contender Claudio Squeo (17-0, 9 KOs).

Opetaia saw action back in January, when he battered and stopped David Nyika in four rounds of action. Prior to that, he competed three consecutive times in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - with victories over Jack Massey, Mairis Briedis and Ellis Zorro.

Squeo is taking a very big step up in class.

In his last fight, Squeo defeated Orlando Estrada, who sports a 16-18 record, in two rounds. Prior to that, Squeo recovered from a knockdown in the second to win a ten round unanimous decision over Niklas Rasanen.

The unbeaten fighter is not ranked by The Ring in their cruiserweight top 10 - and he's ranked by the IBF at 14.

Jai Opetaia to defend cruiserweight belt against Claudio Squeo

IBF cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia will get his second straight title defense in his home country of Australia.

The 29-year-old Opetaia will face Italy’s unbeaten Claudio Squeo on May 13 at Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland, it was announced Thursday on the DAZN stream of the George Kambosos-Jake Wyllie weigh-in.

The fight – which will be the sixth title defense for Opetaia – will take place about an hour’s drive from his hometown of Brisbane, Australia.

Opetaia admits the fight with Squeo – a 34-year-old who is fighting outside of Italy for the first time – is a “tune-up fight” but says he isn’t overlooking his opponent, who carries a 17-0 (9 KOs) record.

“He’s a little bomber, he’s a 5ft 10in, comes forward. He’s nothing special, nothing I ain’t seen before,” said Opetaia, 27-0 (21 KOs). “It’s another day in the office.”

Still, it’s clear that Opetaia would rather be facing someone else – and that person is WBO/WBA cruiserweight titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.

“To be honest, it’s a bit frustrating,” said Opetaia. “I’ve been chasing these unifications.

“I’ve been chasing this Zurdo fight, and still it hasn’t come. I don’t know why. It’s bullshit; the best should be fighting the best. I’ve got two belts, he’s got two belts, we’ve been trying to push for this fight and it just doesn’t make sense for me why this isn’t getting over the line. The only reason would be he’s ducking. We’re really pushing for these unification fights, but I can only do so much.”

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who co-promotes Opetaia alongside Tasman Fighters, says he had a call two weeks ago with Ramirez’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, plus Riyadh Season head Turki Alalshikh, who indicate that Ramirez has a mandatory title defense set for June 28 against Yuniel Dorticos. Hearn says he believes an Opetaia-Ramirez unification fight can be made in Saudi Arabia in September or October.

“We know the big fights are coming, the Zurdos, and the plan is to become undisputed and unify,” Hearn said. “But this guy wants to stay busy. I really want him to fight frequently this year.

“We want the Zurdo Ramirez fight, but also [WBC cruiserweight titleholder] Badou Jack is fighting [mandatory challenger Ryan] Rozicki coming up soon as well. We’ve got to get all those belts before – maybe – the eventual move up to the big boys.”

The Squeo fight will be the fourth in the past 12 months for the 29-year-old southpaw Opetaia, who was last in the ring in January knocking out David Nyika in four rounds.

Squeo, the No. 14 contender with the IBF at 200lbs, is coming off a second-round stoppage of Orlando de Jesus Estrada last October in a six-round fight, and will be fighting in his first scheduled 12-rounder.

Knockover job.

Opetaia's career is starting to get a bit boring...

He's possibly the highest skilled but hasn't beat anyone currently in the top 20, whereas, Ramirez, CBS and others have been facing each other.

Kind of disrespectful to say its just a tune up and he`s nothing special but thats Opetaia - no filter

Highlight reel battering no doubt .

never heard of this dude, looking over his record i can see why

Shows there's not much money about, I reckon.

-undersized 5”10 195lb.. (weighs in 195, so I assume he dosent cut weight, meaning he is about 20lb less than a cruiser should be)

-not a banger (going the distance vs some very poor opposition regularly)

- got knocked down by a guy outside the top 200 on boxrec 2 fights ago…

This is a horrific opponent for a guy many (including myself) consider a top top fighter…

The only silver lining as an aus boxing fan is these Aus cards normally allow for a decent showcase for other Aus fighters…

joshj909 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2025, 08:37 Opetaia's career is starting to get a bit boring...

He's possibly the highest skilled but hasn't beat anyone currently in the top 20, whereas, Ramirez, CBS and others have been facing each other.

Just typical really , they will milk the Aussie public , wring them out and do it again and again and again , Look at the Jarvis fight they charged 70 bucks for that rubbish , because theres fools about who will pay it , Even undercards here can pick there own taxi driver if they can sell a couple of tickets

Ben Mahoney-Joepher Montano added to Jai Opetaia-Claudio Squeo card

Ben Mahoney will face Joepher Montano in a junior middleweight bout May 13 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Australia.

Mahoney-Montano will appear on the undercard of the Jai Opetaia-Claudio Squeo cruiserweight title headliner, and will be part of the DAZN broadcast.

Mahoney, 15-0-1 (8 KOs), is a 29-year-old from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, who most recently outpointed Fan Zhang over 10 rounds in January.

“This fight is a huge opportunity for me to climb the rankings and position myself for a world title shot,” Mahoney said. “Montano is a dangerous opponent, but I’m putting in the work, and I’m going to make a statement.”

Several significant advantages tilt in favor of Mahoney, who has fought only in Australia and at the 154lbs junior middleweight limit or higher for his entire career. The Gold Coast Convention Centre is essentially a home game for Mahoney.

Meanwhile, the May bout will mark the first above welterweight for Montano, 19-5-2 (17 KOs), as well as his first fight in Australia. A 28-year-old southpaw from Bago City, Philippines, Montano has faced modest opposition, but he has an 89 percent stoppage rate and has won nine in a row – including, most recently, a knockout of Shiva Thakran last October.

“I’ve studied Mahoney’s style,” Montano said, “and I see weaknesses I can capitalize on.”

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑21 Mar 2025, 09:10 never heard of this dude, looking over his record i can see why

Not heard of any of his opponents either but have heard and sadly lived through your time Mrs Thatcher

I think anyone in the top 15 at Cruiser is an easy fight except for Ramirez and I wouldn't expect Jai to sit on his hands until that pops up.

Opataia and Inoue have had some horrendous defences in the last few years. Makes you realise what a baller Usyk was/is you can count the number of gimme fights he has had on not many fingers.

jameswilson wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 10:53 Opataia and Inoue have had some horrendous defences in the last few years. Makes you realise what a baller Usyk was/is you can count the number of gimme fights he has had on not many fingers.

Inuoe cleaned up the division, he can't choose who holds the belts. Plus the Goodman pulled out twice. If Akhmadaliev had beaten Tapales, they would have already fought.

jameswilson wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 10:53 Opataia and Inoue have had some horrendous defences in the last few years. Makes you realise what a baller Usyk was/is you can count the number of gimme fights he has had on not many fingers.

Difference is Opataia has had nothing but cupcake defenses and is scheduled for another one. Inoue unified his division at the end of 2023 and his next defense, Nery, was better than anyone Opataia has fought. Too bad because I think he would unify cruiserweight pretty handily

giacomino wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 14:07

jameswilson wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 10:53 Opataia and Inoue have had some horrendous defences in the last few years. Makes you realise what a baller Usyk was/is you can count the number of gimme fights he has had on not many fingers.

Difference is Opataia has had nothing but cupcake defenses and is scheduled for another one. Inoue unified his division at the end of 2023 and his next defense, Nery, was better than anyone Opataia has fought. Too bad because I think he would unify cruiserweight pretty handily

Maris Breidis is superior to Nery and all of Inoue’s opponent other than, arguably, Donaire.
And he fought him twice. The problem for Opetaia is there’s nothing at cruiserweight. Squeo is the pits however

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 14:56

giacomino wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 14:07

jameswilson wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 10:53 Opataia and Inoue have had some horrendous defences in the last few years. Makes you realise what a baller Usyk was/is you can count the number of gimme fights he has had on not many fingers.

Difference is Opataia has had nothing but cupcake defenses and is scheduled for another one. Inoue unified his division at the end of 2023 and his next defense, Nery, was better than anyone Opataia has fought. Too bad because I think he would unify cruiserweight pretty handily

Maris Breidis is superior to Nery and all of Inoue’s opponent other than, arguably, Donaire.
And he fought him twice. The problem for Opetaia is there’s nothing at cruiserweight. Squeo is the pits however

Disagree. I have great respect for both Opataia and Bredis but Inoue has fought and destroyed a number of top opponents largely unknown here because they fight at the lower weights. That doesn’t make them lesser opponents because Bredis is a cruiserweight who gave Usyk and Opertaia good fights

giacomino wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 15:13

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 14:56

giacomino wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 14:07

Difference is Opataia has had nothing but cupcake defenses and is scheduled for another one. Inoue unified his division at the end of 2023 and his next defense, Nery, was better than anyone Opataia has fought. Too bad because I think he would unify cruiserweight pretty handily

Maris Breidis is superior to Nery and all of Inoue’s opponent other than, arguably, Donaire.
And he fought him twice. The problem for Opetaia is there’s nothing at cruiserweight. Squeo is the pits however

Disagree. I have great respect for both Opataia and Bredis but Inoue has fought and destroyed a number of top opponents largely unknown here because they fight at the lower weights. That doesn’t make them lesser opponents because Bredis is a cruiserweight who gave Usyk and Opertaia good fights

Lmao Breidis didn’t ‘only’ give Usyk and Opetaia a good fight, he’s a two time world cruiserweight champ… who beat 5 world champs, 6 if you include him flattening Mahmoud Charr despite giving away almost 35 pounds. You’ve probably never watched him fight have you? Otherwise you’d know he’s quality. He’s a much better scalp than anyone except maybe Donaire as I said.

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 15:44

giacomino wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 15:13

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑28 Mar 2025, 14:56

Maris Breidis is superior to Nery and all of Inoue’s opponent other than, arguably, Donaire.
And he fought him twice. The problem for Opetaia is there’s nothing at cruiserweight. Squeo is the pits however

Disagree. I have great respect for both Opataia and Bredis but Inoue has fought and destroyed a number of top opponents largely unknown here because they fight at the lower weights. That doesn’t make them lesser opponents because Bredis is a cruiserweight who gave Usyk and Opertaia good fights

Lmao Breidis didn’t ‘only’ give Usyk and Opetaia a good fight, he’s a two time world cruiserweight champ… who beat 5 world champs, 6 if you include him flattening Mahmoud Charr despite giving away almost 35 pounds. You’ve probably never watched him fight have you? Otherwise you’d know he’s quality. He’s a much better scalp than anyone except maybe Donaire as I said.

Lmao counting Charr as a “world champ.” Most overused words on boxing threads. How you took my comment as a attack on Breidis and “probably never watched him fight” is your issue to sort out

Fights been postponed to 8th June.

Jai picked up a minor injury in training.

Cruiserweight clash between Jai Opetaia and Claudio Squeo postponed until June 8

The IBF cruiserweight title fight between champion Jai Opetaia and Claudio Squeo, originally scheduled for Tuesday May 13, will now take place on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. According to a press release, the delay is due to a "minor injury" sustained by Opetaia during training which "requires additional time for recovery."

Mick Francis, Opetaia's manager and Tasman Fighters promoter, stated: “Being the animal that Jai is in the ring, he takes no opponent lightly. He wants to be 100 per cent fit... Under doctor’s orders, we have pushed the fight back by three weeks to ensure Jai is in top form for the bout.”

The new date falls on a public holiday weekend in Australia, except for Queensland and Western Australia. Francis added, “With the Monday public holiday, we hope to see more interstate fans travelling to the Gold Coast to witness Jai live in action.”

There was no comment on the nature of Opetaia's injury, however.

The team behind the event did express gratitude for the support and flexibility of all involved. “We would like to thank the IBF, our broadcast partner DAZN, Presenting Partners Experience Gold Coast, Riyadh Season, co-promoters Matchroom and GoldStar, and our venues Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and Pacific Fair for their ongoing support and understanding in accommodating these new dates.”

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑05 Apr 2025, 05:20 Fights been postponed to 8th June.

Jai picked up a minor injury in training.

I think even if Jai lost an arm in training he would still Ko Squeo…. In fact probably if he lost a leg as well…

The Ring should take the belt off him for defending against total nobodies. Simple as that.

nobleart1978 wrote: ↑07 Apr 2025, 13:00 The Ring should take the belt off him for defending against total nobodies. Simple as that.

I really rate Jai but other than Briedis in the return you are absolutely correct.

Ended Jordan Thompson's career too seemingly. No way should he have been in there with Jai, he was little more than a novice.

the irony is a number of people only started believing in him after he starched the relative novice thompson, not after beating the world class briedis

this opponent is awful though, where did they even hear of him?