The historic card be on 23rd December.

[TIC]

[Master]

Opetaia, 28, told Main Event TV he had been forced to vacate his belt as Zorro is not the IBF's number one contender.

"It's very short-sighted of the IBF if they go down this road," Warren said.

"Everybody on board, including the number one [mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis], were all happy for it to take place," the veteran promoter told BBC Sport.

"But, you know what, the fight is going on.

"Everybody knows who he [Opetaia] is, they know he's considered to be the best at his weight out there so we'll just get on with it and the fight will happen.

"It's too big a fight not to happen and it's too big an opportunity for the fighters not to fight.

"It [the IBF's decision] is ridiculous really."

Australian Opetaia beat Britain's Jordan Thompson in September with a brutal fourth-round stoppage.

"They've [IBF] really left me with no choice," Opetaia told Main Event TV.

"This is a massive card that I can't say no to so they've stripped me. It is what it is.

"They can do what they want. I'll get the belts back. All I've got to do is to train hard, keep winning and they'll come back to me."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/67747489

[Primo Carnera]

Opetaia, 28, told Main Event TV he had been forced to vacate his belt as Zorro is not the IBF's number one contender.

"It's very short-sighted of the IBF if they go down this road," Warren said.

"Everybody on board, including the number one [mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis], were all happy for it to take place," the veteran promoter told BBC Sport.

"But, you know what, the fight is going on.

"Everybody knows who he [Opetaia] is, they know he's considered to be the best at his weight out there so we'll just get on with it and the fight will happen.

"It's too big a fight not to happen and it's too big an opportunity for the fighters not to fight.

"It [the IBF's decision] is ridiculous really."

Australian Opetaia beat Britain's Jordan Thompson in September with a brutal fourth-round stoppage.

"They've [IBF] really left me with no choice," Opetaia told Main Event TV.

"This is a massive card that I can't say no to so they've stripped me. It is what it is.

"They can do what they want. I'll get the belts back. All I've got to do is to train hard, keep winning and they'll come back to me."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/67747489

Everything you need to know about boxing. A guy gets stripped for not taking on his mandatory when hardly anyone in the division will fight him.
Then others hold onto belts forever not taking a serious fight. Maybe he should have fought an MMA Guy with no pro fights.

[Ron Swanson]

Wilder trying to sound deep always makes me feel uneasy, literally upsets my stomach he’s so dumb but doesn’t know it

[Spicoli]

Wilder trying to sound deep always makes me feel uneasy, literally upsets my stomach he’s so dumb but doesn’t know it

Tbh he does sound punchy. He always tries to do this too cool and chill drawl but genuinely sounds confused talking up there .

Card starts at 10am here and well working on Saturdays sucks. And I've never rooted for Dubois like I am now but just the sheer mass alone of a 325lb juice box that is Miller stands a very good shot. But let's hope Dubois smashes him.

[Master]

Mark De Mori is feeling pessimistic ahead of his biggest fight yet.

The Australian heavyweight is set to take on top contender Filip Hrgovic during the Day of Reckoning card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

British fight fans will remember De Mori as the man who taught himself to box by watching YouTube videos before being knocked out by David Haye in 2016.

Since then, he’s picked up 11 consecutive wins and earned a fight with one of the best heavyweights on the planet, who happens to be the mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s IBF title.

Despite being one win, which would admittedly be a monumental upset, away from cracking the heavyweight top 15, De Mori doesn’t believe he will ever be a world champion

The 41-year-old says he came to that conclusion after sparring WBC heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury, who will face Usyk in an undisputed fight on February 17.

“Honestly, I don’t think that, if I caught Hrgovic, that anyone would want to see me fight the winner of Fury-Usyk,” De Mori said during an interview with Boxing Social.

“That’s just being realistic and that is fine, so we would probably do a rematch.

“I sparred Fury once and it was during those rounds that I realised that I’d never become a world champion, that’s how much trouble I had landing a punch on him.

“So, if I managed to knock him [Hrgovic] out, I think that it would be a rematch.”

De Mori’s lack of ambition appears to have freed him from the stress that Hrgovic, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and every other contender fighting this weekend is almost certainly feeling right now.

He added: “It’s all good fun.”

“There is no expectations on me or my career anymore.

“So, I will walk in there with no weight on my shoulders.”

https://talksport.com/sport/1687314/...filip-hrgovic/

[Primo Carnera]

Mark De Mori is feeling pessimistic ahead of his biggest fight yet.

The Australian heavyweight is set to take on top contender Filip Hrgovic during the Day of Reckoning card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

British fight fans will remember De Mori as the man who taught himself to box by watching YouTube videos before being knocked out by David Haye in 2016.

Since then, he’s picked up 11 consecutive wins and earned a fight with one of the best heavyweights on the planet, who happens to be the mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s IBF title.

Despite being one win, which would admittedly be a monumental upset, away from cracking the heavyweight top 15, De Mori doesn’t believe he will ever be a world champion

The 41-year-old says he came to that conclusion after sparring WBC heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury, who will face Usyk in an undisputed fight on February 17.

“Honestly, I don’t think that, if I caught Hrgovic, that anyone would want to see me fight the winner of Fury-Usyk,” De Mori said during an interview with Boxing Social.

“That’s just being realistic and that is fine, so we would probably do a rematch.

“I sparred Fury once and it was during those rounds that I realised that I’d never become a world champion, that’s how much trouble I had landing a punch on him.

“So, if I managed to knock him [Hrgovic] out, I think that it would be a rematch.”

De Mori’s lack of ambition appears to have freed him from the stress that Hrgovic, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and every other contender fighting this weekend is almost certainly feeling right now.

He added: “It’s all good fun.”

“There is no expectations on me or my career anymore.

“So, I will walk in there with no weight on my shoulders.”

https://talksport.com/sport/1687314/...filip-hrgovic/

I really don't get this one? could they not find a better opponent for the IBF Mandatory challenger than Mark De Mori??
and the IBF would strip a genuine champion in Opetaia , yet leave Hrgovic as the Mandatory Chalenger when he's fighting this dross?
please make it make sense.