Jai Opetaia vs Brandon Glanton Preview March 8th, 2026
Undefeated Lineal, Ring Magazine and IBF Cruiserweight Champion Jai Opetaia of Sydney, Australia clashes with Brandon Glanton of Atlanta, Georgia this Sunday, March 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Opetaia won the titles via a unanimous decision over Mairis Briedis in a slugfest in July, 2022 and defended the IBF Belt by stopping Jordan Thompson in the fourth round 14 months later. He was stripped of the IBF Crown for failing to fight Briedis in a mandatory defence and defended the Lineal Title in December, 2023 by halting Ellis Zorro in the first round. Opetaia then met Briedis in May, 2024 in a rematch for the vacant IBF Belt and beat him by unanimous decision. He defended the Titles by stopping Jack Massey in the sixth round, halting David Nyika in four rounds, stopping Claudio Squeo in the fifth round and then stopping Huseyin Cinkara in eight rounds in his last outing in December. Glanton last stepped into the ring in October when he halted Marcus Browne after six rounds. Sunday’s fight can be seen live on Paramount +.
Opetaia vs Glanton Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Brandon Glanton +1250
- Jai Opetaia -3300
My Pick
The 30-year-old southpaw Opetaia climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 29-0 with 23 Ko’s and obviously carries quite a bit of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 79.3 per cent. However other than Mairis Briedis, he’s fought limited opposition up to now as his biggest wins were over the likes of Jack Massey, Ellis Zorro, Jordan Thompson, Daniel Ammann, Frankie Lopez, Kurtis Pegoraro, Mark Flanagan and Benjamin Kelleher.
Opetaia is a good-sized cruiserweight as he stands 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 76-inch reach and has 137 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2015 following a pretty successful amateur career. Opetaia represented his homeland at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England as a heavyweight but was edged in his first bout.
He was an Australian National Champion in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and won a gold medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships. Opetaia also captured gold at the 2012 Oceanian Olympic Qualifier as well as bronze at the 2012 World Youth Championships and boxed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Since turning pro Opetaia has also won the vacant Australia-New South Wales State Heavyweight Title along with the vacant OPBF, Australian, WBO Global, WBO Asia Pacific, WBA Oceania, IBF Pan Pacific, IBF Asia Oceania, and IBF Youth Cruiserweight Belts.
The 34-year-old Glanton makes the ring walk with a mark of 21-3 with 18 Ko’s to his name. He made his pro debut back in 2017 and has 106 rounds of experience under his belt since. As an amateur he reached the 2016 National Golden Gloves Quarterfinals and the 2015 USA National Championships Quarterfinals and competed in the World Series of Boxing. He measures 6-feet tall with a 79-inch reach so gives up two inches in height to Opetaia but makes up for it with a three-inch reach advantage.
Glanton arguably possesses equal or more power than Opetaia as 85.7 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage, including his past seven. His first defeat came at the hands of David Light by 10-round split decision in December, 2022 in a shot at the vacant WBO Global, and WBO International Cruiserweight Titles. He then lost his next fight four months later when he was edged via a 10-round majority decision by Soslan Abarov.
His third and last defeat was to Chris Billam-Smith by a competitive 12-round unanimous decision last April. Glanton did manage to win the vacant WBO Global Cruiserweight Belt in 2022 when he stopped Mario Aguilar in the second round. He also captured the vacant WBO International Crown in 2024 by halting Emil Markic in the second stanza as well and has wins over Eleksei Egorov and Mitch Williams.
Prediction…
Glanton has power so he always has a puncher’s chance in any fight, but he is 34 years old now. It could be argued that Opetaia hasn’t exactly been taking on the cream of the crop in the cruiserweight division and he really needs to give the fans what they want by stepping up the competition, even if it means vacating his belt. Glanton is probably his stiffest opponent since Mairis Briedis. I’m expecting Opetaia to emerge with a victory but he’s likely going to have to work hard for it despite the wide odds.
Opetaia’s boxing skills are a class above Glanton’s.
Play: Opetaia -3300 @ BetOnline.ag
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Brandon Glanton betting • Jai Opetaia betting