Opetaia’s pursuit of those titles was what led to his promoters at Zuffa Boxing arranging a shot at WBC champ Noel Mikaelian on the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn undercard Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. The unbeaten Australian southpaw realizes that the fight to make in the cruiserweight division is him versus David Benavidez, but Mikaelian is one of the top opponents Opetaia has been scheduled to face in 11 years as a professional.

“Man, he’s a good fighter,” Opetaia told The Ring. “We haven’t taken him lightly, that’s for sure. … I know he’s coming to prove something. He’s got good experience. He’s a good, little fighter, and he wants to win. He’s tough. I’m expecting a hard 12 rounds.”

Mikaelian’s lone loss since former WBC champ Mairis Briedis beat him by unanimous decision in November 2018 came by majority decision against another ex-WBC beltholder, Badou Jack, in May of last year. The Armenian champion avenged that setback by beating Jack unanimously on points in his last fight, an immediate rematch that took place December 13 in Los Angeles.

Opetaia, a 13-1 favorite according to FanDuel, will defend his Ring title against Mikaelian, who is ranked No. 5 among the top 10 contenders, four spots below Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs). Phoenix’s Benavidez took the WBA and WBO championships from Mexico’s Gilberto Ramirez (48-2, 30 KOs), who he knocked out in the sixth round of his cruiserweight debut May 2.

Representatives for Benavidez and Mikaelian negotiated for them to meet December 12 in Glendale, Arizona, but Mikaelian told The Ring he was never presented with a contract for that bout. An attorney for Don King, his promoter, sent a cease-and-desist letter in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the 35-year-old from facing Opetaia, but their bout was still scheduled when this story was posted.

Regardless, Opetaia (30-0, 23 KOs) and Mikaelian (28-3, 12 KOs) want to battle Benavidez next.

“Why wouldn’t it happen next?,” Opetaia asked. “Why wouldn’t he get the winner? But I got a job to do on the 12th. It’s all just talk unless I take care of the job on the 12th.”

After all the drama he experienced prior to his unanimous decision over Atlanta’s Glanton (21-4, 18 KOs) on March 8, Opetaia has tried to keep a low profile as he prepares for the co-feature before Garcia defends his WBC welterweight title against Benn.

“It’s a bit of a circus with all these sanctioning bodies,” Opetaia, 31, said, “with Zuffa new on the scene and stuff like that. … We just stay in our lane. We train hard, and when the opportunity comes we’ll get those belts.”

Subscribers to Paramount+ can view the Garcia-Benn event for no additional charge in the United States. The main card is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET.

DAZN will offer the Garcia-Benn show to subscribers of its Ultimate plan for no extra charge in the UK and Ireland and on pay-per-view for non-subscribers (1 a.m. BST; £24.99).