The hard-hitting contender from Atlanta sees his 12-round title fight against Jai Opetaia as the moment that will determine whether anyone remembers anything about his career. The man nicknamed “Bulletproof” is afraid of dying, figuratively anyway.

“I don’t wanna die, and we’re all gonna die in our physical [lives],” Glanton told The Ring. “But you die twice when people stop talking about you, so Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, they will never die – ever. Even when they pass in the physical, we’ll talk about them forever because they got their name in those history books. This is my chance to live forever.”

Australia’s Opetaia (29-0, 23 KOs) holds The Ring and IBF cruiserweight titles, though the IBF announced Friday night that it won’t sanction Opetaia-Glanton as a championship match. Along with British star Conor Benn, the strong southpaw was one of the two highest-profile additions to Zuffa Boxing’s roster since the upstart promotional company began staging shows in January.

Glanton (21-3, 18 KOs) is ranked 10th among The Ring’s cruiserweight contenders, but this is his first title fight. Opetaia, 30, and Glanton, 34, will fight for the new Zuffa Boxing belt, as well as Opetaia's Ring crown.

Glanton lost a 12-round unanimous decision to his most accomplished opponent to date, former WBO champ Chris Billam-Smith, on the Benn-Chris Eubank Jr. undercard April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Billam-Smith (21-2, 13 KOs) is ranked No. 2 by The Ring.

Glanton was disappointed with how he performed against Billam-Smith, who beat him by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 116-113. He nevertheless believes what he learned from that fight will help him handle the mental and physical pressure Opetaia will place upon him in the main event of a card Paramount+ will stream from Meta Apex, UFC’s performance complex in Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).

“He’s an explosive guy, a strong guy, a fast guy,” Glanton said. “He definitely checks all the boxes – that’s for sure. I’m sure he’ll push me in every way, mentally, physically. But that’s what happens when you’re going up against the best. When you have big dreams, you gotta do big things.”

Opetaia has been frustrated by an inability to secure a title unification fight against WBA and WBO champ Gilberto Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs), who will defend his belts against WBC light heavyweight champ David Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) on May 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Sydney native has settled for knockout victories over optional opponents Jack Massey (23-3, 13 KOs), David Nyika (12-1, 10 KOs), Claudio Squeo (18-1, 10 KOs) and Huseyin Cinkara (23-1, 19 KOs) since he regained the IBF title by beating former WBC champ Mairis Briedis (28-3, 20 KOs) in their 12-round rematch in May 2024.

“I don’t give a s--- what he did, honestly,” Glanton said. “Whatever they wanna say, this is a fight, and I’m expecting that man to come at me a hundred percent. I gotta get in there and fight for my life. That’s what it is. Do I feel like he’s fought anybody like me? No. Do I feel like he had a couple other hard fights? Briedis, obviously that was a older Briedis, but he still got the job done, so he’s still a dangerous guy.

“I don’t care if he fought 10 champions or he fought 10 tomato cans, he still did what he was supposed to do with them, which means he’s a threat to me. Yeah, I gotta handle that. That man is in my way and the only way – Holyfield used to say you can’t wish the boogeyman away, you gotta go to him. So, at the end of the day, he’s just a man, I’m just a man. We’re not superheroes, as much as we like to feel like it. He’s another guy who did his job 29 times in a row. That’s all I got to worry about.”