The 30-year-old Opetaia hoped after his easy victory over Brandon Glanton on March 8 that the IBF would allow him to keep his crown and pursue his dream of becoming undisputed champ, despite that the New Jersey-based governing organization declined to sanction his fight against Glanton as a title bout. The IBF, known for adhering to its rules, instead voted to take Opetaia’s title and explained its decision in a letter obtained by The Ring.

The IBF’s issue with the Opetaia-Glanton fight was that the Zuffa Boxing belt was at stake and that the IBF doesn’t recognize the upstart promotional company’s championship. Opetaia also retained his Ring title by beating Glanton on points, but the IBF didn’t have a problem with them fighting for that belt.

The IBF withdrew its sanction late the night of March 6 – after the final press conference to promote the bout at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and less than 48 hours before it took place at nearby Meta Apex, UFC’s performance center. The IBF therefore returned its sanctioning fee to Opetaia the next day.

Opetaia’s team initiated legal action after he defeated Glanton, though that didn’t alter the IBF’s stance.

Australia’s Opetaia (30-0, 24 KOs) expressed to Zuffa Boxing’s leadership group, which includes Ring owner Turki Alalshikh, when he agreed to sign with the company that he wanted to keep his IBF title and continue to pursue the WBA, WBC and WBO belts. Zuffa Boxing’s decision-makers ultimately want their titles to be recognized as the belts in boxing, but they accepted Opetaia’s position on becoming a fully unified champion.

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.