Opetaia to make heavyweight debut against Wilder on Cardiff card

Deontay Wilder will face Jai Opetaia in Cardiff on 11 December after organisers announced the heavyweight contest on Wednesday. According to the Guardian, the fight has been added to the Principality Stadium event headlined by Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, with Netflix set to stream the card worldwide. BBC Sport also confirmed the pairing as the co-main event.

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Opetaia will enter the heavyweight division for the first time, bringing an unbeaten professional record of 31 wins. The 31-year-old Australian has built his career at cruiserweight, where he won the IBF world title by beating Mairis Briedis in 2022. BBC Sport lists 24 knockouts on his record, compared with 43 for his new opponent.

The move matches Opetaia with a fighter who has spent his entire professional career at heavyweight. Wilder, 41, has recorded 45 victories, four defeats and one draw. He held the WBC heavyweight championship from 2015 until 2020 and successfully defended it 10 times before losing the belt to Fury, the Guardian reported. Their three-fight series produced a draw and two Wilder defeats.

Wilder's recent career has included setbacks against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, followed by wins over Tyrrell Anthony Herndon and Derek Chisora. The Guardian reported that those victories followed a period when retirement had appeared possible. Both men in the newly announced contest have Olympic experience: Wilder won bronze in 2008, while Opetaia represented Australia at the London Games in 2012, aged 16.

The addition follows September's confirmation of Fury against Joshua, a fight that had repeatedly failed to materialise. One attempt collapsed in 2021 when a US arbitrator ruled that Fury was obliged to fight Wilder for a third time. Joshua subsequently lost his world titles to Oleksandr Usyk, and further efforts to arrange the all-British meeting also fell through, according to the Guardian.

BBC Sport reported that tickets for the headline event sold out in less than an hour. The rest of the undercard had yet to be announced. Wednesday's confirmation establishes Wilder and Opetaia as the supporting attraction, with Opetaia's heavyweight debut now attached to the same Cardiff bill as the long-delayed meeting between Fury and Joshua.