Opetaia — After Cinkara: “I Got a Bit Cocky. I Need to Dial It Back.”

IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia reflected on his performance against Germany’s Huseyin Cinkara, whom he knocked out in the 8th round. The Australian admitted he wasn’t happy with how he looked in the fight.

“I was terrible. I feel like I can fight a lot better. I feel like I needed this, you know what I mean? I needed this. There’s a lot of room for improvement.

I needed this — I feel like I needed to dial it back a bit. I got a little too confident, and it showed in the ring. I feel like I trained hard, but my body — my legs were just cooked, honestly. But it’s good — it’s a good lesson. I shouldn’t be taking that many shots from an opponent like that, you know what I mean?

I should’ve fought a lot better, moved a lot smoother, I should’ve been much more switched on. Now we know how to fix it,” said Opetaia.

For Opetaia (29-0, 23 KOs), the win was his third stoppage victory of 2025. Cinkara lasted the longest — Opetaia’s two previous opponents were stopped in rounds 4 and 5. For Cinkara (23-1, 19 KOs), it was the first loss of his career. It has also been reported that he suffered a neck injury.