Daily Times

The ripple effect of Tyson Fury’s sparring mishap has sent Jai Opetaia’s camp scrambling to secure his highly anticipated world-title rematch with Mairis Briedis, possibly back on Australian soil.

Fury’s undisputed heavyweight champion clash with Ukranian Oleksandr Usyk, scheduled for February 17, was postponed after the British star suffered a cut during sparring.

The pair were set to battle in Saudi Arabia to unify Fury’s WBC heavyweight championship with Usyk’s WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts, crowning the first unified heavyweight boxing champion since 1999.

Opetaia and Briedis’s fight for the vacant IBF belt – almost two years since the Australian broke his jaw twice during an incredible upset defeat of the Latvian – was to be the co-main event. IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic is reportedly in the mix at short notice to replace Fury and salvage the main event, however event boss Turki Al-Sheikh has said that fight will be rescheduled and tickets refunded.

Adding to the logistical nightmare is the fact Saudi Arabia will not host boxing events during Ramadan, which begins on March 10 and continues until April 8.

Gatton-based New Zealand Olympic bronze medallist David Nyika, another cruiserweight with world-title ambitions, was also scheduled to fight on the Fury-Usyk card.

“We heard at 3.30am last night,” Opetaia’s manager Mick Francis told AAP on Saturday. “The first reaction was shock. Tyson’s had such a good camp, in the week we were there (last month) he looked good, the best I’ve ever seen him.

“That’s boxing though, the ripple effect of one second in the ring … I’ve spoken to Jai and he said it’s a setback, one of those things, but is prepared to fight where and when he’s asked.”

Gold Coast-based Opetaia earned a reported $680,000 for a brutal first-round knockout of Ellis Zorro in Riyadh late last year and the Fury slot was to be the final fight of a lucrative Saudi deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.