Jai Opetaia vs Claudio Squeo Preview June 8th, 2025
Undefeated Lineal, Ring Magazine and IBF Cruiserweight Champion Jai Opetaia of Sydney, Australia clashes with unbeaten Claudio Squeo of Italy this Sunday, June 8th in Broadbeach, Australia. 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 last May 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 in October and halting David Nyika in four rounds in his last outing in January. Squeo last fought in October when he stopped Orlando de Jesus Estrada in the second round. This week’s fight can be seen live on DAZN in most nations with the card beginning at about 5am ET.
Opetaia vs Squeo Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Claudio Squeo +1800
- Jai Opetaia -10000
My Pick
The 29-year-old southpaw Opetaia climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 27-0 with 21 Ko’s and obviously carries quite a bit of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 77.8 per cent. However other than Briedis, he’s fought limited opposition up to now as his biggest wins were over the likes of Massey, 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 124 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.
As for Squeo, he’s 34 years old and carries around a perfect record of 17-0 with 9 Ko’s. He’s fought just 72 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017 following his amateur career, which saw him compete in the World Series of Boxing. Squeo certainly isn’t one of the biggest cruiserweights around as he measures just 5-feet-10-inches tall with an unlisted reach which sees him give up four inches in height to the champion. He doesn’t match Opetaia in power either as his current knockout ratio clocks in at 53 per cent.
Squeo has gone the distance in three of his past four fights after winning his previous seven by stoppage. He won the vacant IBO Mediterranean Cruiserweight Title in 2022 when he halted Elvis Smajlovic in the second round and added the vacant IBF Latino Cruiserweight Belt in 2022 by stopping Williams Ocando in the third round. He won the vacant Federazione Pugilistica Italiana Cruiserweight Title the same year with a second-round stoppage of Gabriele Guainella and finally captured the vacant IBF European Title in March of last year via a 10-round unanimous decision over Niklas Rasanen.
Prediction…
Squeo has never fought outside of Italy and has never faced a top-10 contender so he’s taking a big leap upwards in class this weekend. In fact, just eight of his 17 opponents entered the ring with a winning record. Opetaia suffered a jaw injury in his first fight against Briedis and was out of action for over a year but hasn’t had a problem since coming back and has improved since that battle. Squeo doesn’t have the power to keep him at bay and considering that he’s fighting at home and is four inches taller, the best bet here is a win by Opetaia. In fact the round of the stoppage is the best bet unless you’re having a go on Squeo.
Opetaia’s pro experience and power should be the difference.
Play: Opetaia -10000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Claudio Squeo betting • Jai Opetaia betting