Jai Opetaia and Brandon Glanton will make history on Sunday, March 8 in Las Vegas. Opetaia and Glanton will be the first two fighters to contest the Zuffa Boxing championship in any weight class when they headline Zuffa Boxing 4 on Paramount+ at the Meta Apex.
Opetaia, the reigning IBF cruiserweight champion, looks to add the Zuffa cruiserweight title to his collection against Glanton.
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It is unclear at this stage whether the IBF title will be on the line or if Opetaia will be allowed to keep the belt. Neither Zuffa co-founder Dana White nor the official artwork for the fight made any mention of the IBF belt. An inquiry sent with the IBF remains unanswered as of publication time.
Although the Zuffa title was advertised as being on the line, Zuffa still needs the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act to pass so that it can create a Unified Boxing Organization (UBO) and award its own belt. After emerging out of the U.S. House Education and Workforce committee last month, the bill is expected to move to the full House of Representatives for debate and a floor vote, where it will need a simple majority to pass.
Australia’s Opetaia (29-0, 23 KOs) is a two-time IBF cruiserweight champion, having previously held the title from July 2022-23. He defeated Mairis Breidis in an upset to capture the championship in July 2022 and then beat Breidis again in a May 2024 rematch to become a two-time titleholder.
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Opetaia has made four defenses of his title in his current reign as IBF champion. He faced off with WBC titleholder Noel Mikaelyan during Zuffa Boxing 1 on Jan. 23, with the suggestion being that the pair would clash in a unification bout next. Uncrowned, however, broke the news a few days later that Opetaia’s Zuffa debut would not be against Mikaelyan.
Glanton (21-3, 18 KOs) has never boxed for a world title before. He lost a split decision to David Light for the WBO No. 1 contender spot in December 2022. The American then suffered a majority decision defeat to 3-0 Soslan Asbarov in his next fight. Glanton managed to string together three wins in a row before falling short to Chris Billam-Smith on the Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn 1 undercard this past April at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. Glanton returned to his winning ways with a sixth-round stoppage of Marcus Browne in October.
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