Jai Opetaia (28-0, 22 KOs) made it quick and brutal on Sunday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, flattening Italy’s Claudio Squeo with a sledgehammer right hand in round five to retain his IBF cruiserweight world title. That’s now four straight stoppages since his return, and this one looked violent.
Squeo (17-1, 9 KOs) showed heart but was outgunned from the start. He barely survived a body shot in round four, then crouched in the corner moments later, jaw likely broken — just like Opetaia’s own had been in his 2022 title win.
Afterwards, Opetaia didn’t waste words. “Next fight, ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Let’s get it on,” he said in the ring. The Aussie wants the belts — and he wants them now.
Aussie champions flex as Blizzard, Keating, McIntyre all deliver
Conor Wallace had to grind through a gritty Dylan Colin but came out ahead on the cards (77-75 x2, 78-74). Wallace never looked fully comfortable but edged it with cleaner work in the final rounds.
Tyler Blizzard breezed past Rocky Ogden with a 99-91, 99-91, 98-92 decision. He controlled the tempo and looked levels above. Welterweight Danny Keating made it a wipeout with a 100-90 clean sweep over Blake Minto.
Fan-favorite Max McIntyre brought the noise with a sixth-round stoppage of Ricaia Warren, and looked fired up doing it. The undercard delivered, even if most of the fights were one-sided.
Prelims: Aokuso dominates, Fletcher stops early, Mariah Turner shines
Austin Aokuso scored a dominant win over Ikenna Enyi (a.k.a. “Ike from Pluto”), winning wide on the cards. Xavier Fletcher crushed Alivereti Dodomo in round two, while Mariah Turner took a solid decision against Leah Reuben in the featherweight scrap.
Main Card Results
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Jai Opetaia def. Claudio Squeo – TKO5 – IBF World Cruiserweight Title
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Conor Wallace def. Dylan Colin – PTS8 (77-75 x2, 78-74) – Light Heavyweight
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Tyler Blizzard def. Rocky Ogden – PTS10 (99-91 x2, 98-92) – Featherweight
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Danny Keating def. Blake Minto – PTS10 (100-90 x3) – Welterweight
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Max McIntyre def. Ricaia Warren – TKO6 – Super Middleweight
Preliminary Results
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Austin Aokuso def. Ikenna Enyi – PTS6 (60-53, 59-53, 58-55) – Cruiserweight
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Mariah Turner def. Leah Reuben – PTS8 (80-72, 77-75 x2) – Featherweight (women)
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Xavier Fletcher def. Alivereti Dodomo – TKO2 – Super Middleweight
These fights was mostly boring to me except for Opetaia’s KO 🙄 They just put random guys together so Aussies can win everything and say their fighters are the best without real challenge.
Turner winning was cool and all but I thought Leah Reuben actually fought harder in some rounds. These judges never give underdogs any love even when they show more heart.
Judges always mess up scores bro 😤 Reuben had some clean hits but no one cared cause Turner got more hype behind her name.
People keep talking about Max McIntyre like he’s some beast, but Ricaia Warren ain’t no top level guy either. If Max wants respect, let him go against someone with an actual record.
Yeah man, anyone can look good when fighting someone way worse than them 😒. They just feeding him easy wins to make him look better than he is.
True that! I seen better fights at local gyms than this card had lol 🤷♂️
Why do all these Aussie fighters only fight in Australia? They should go fight in America or somewhere big if they really wanna prove something. Fighting at home all the time is not real competition 🌍.
I don’t get why Wallace got the win. He looked slow and was always backing up. Just cause he landed a couple clean shots at the end don’t mean he deserved all them scorecards 📉.
That Blizzard guy only won cause the other dude didn’t try hard enough. You could see Ogden barely throwing punches. These fights don’t even look fair, it’s like they pick weak guys to beat easy.
I think this Opetaia guy is good but people act like he’s unbeatable. Just because he won fast don’t mean he’s the best ever. Squeo wasn’t even that strong of a fighter honestly.
Exactly! People are hyping him too much. One good punch doesn’t mean you can take on Ramirez or whoever. He needs to fight harder opponents before they call him a champ for real 💯.