Jai Opetaia knocked out Noel Mikaelian on a Las Vegas fight night. The Australian ended the bout, staged on the undercard of the Ryan Garcia–Conor Benn showdown, by technical knockout at 1:37 of the ninth round, successfully defending his cruiserweight belts. The fight began with an accidental clash of heads in the very first round and serious swelling on Opetaia's face. Mikaelian shook his opponent several times with accurate right hands in the second and the middle rounds, forcing him into clinches, yet the Australian rode out the pressure.
The ninth proved decisive, when a powerful Opetaia hook left Mikaelian in deep trouble, followed by a sustained assault and the referee's intervention to stop the contest. The winner praised his opponent's durability and asked on the spot who his next challenge would be. He turned directly to David Benavidez, seated in the arena: "With all due respect, let's fight," Opetaia said. Benavidez proposed 5 May as the date, to which Opetaia answered with a short nod of agreement. Tellingly, despite the heavy defeat, Noel Mikaelian remained WBC champion, as the sanctioning body did not officially grant the bout championship status.
