Wilder to face Opetaia on Fury-Joshua card in Cardiff

Deontay Wilder has been added to the undercard of Tyson Fury's heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua, facing Jai Opetaia in a fight confirmed for December 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, according to Yahoo Sports.

The bout will stream live on Netflix as part of what Yahoo Sports described as boxing's biggest night, built around Fury and Joshua finally meeting in the ring.

Promoter Turki Alalshikh announced the Wilder-Opetaia matchup on Wednesday, with Dana White, who promotes Opetaia, confirming on Instagram that the fight was official.

For Opetaia, it marks a step up in weight rather than simply a step up in opposition. The Ring and Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion is unbeaten and has built his entire career at 200 pounds, and he will now move up to face a former WBC heavyweight titleholder who has spent more than a decade as one of the sport's heaviest hitters.

Yahoo Sports framed it as a significant gamble for Opetaia, but also a considerable opportunity given the scale of the platform in Cardiff.

The timing adds further intrigue. Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena, on the undercard of Ryan Garcia's fight with Conor Benn. David Benavidez entered the ring immediately after that finish, and the pair shook hands and agreed to meet on Cinco de Mayo weekend next year.

When reports of the Wilder fight first emerged in October, The Ring reported that a heavyweight assignment in Cardiff would not affect the planned Benavidez fight. Benavidez himself is scheduled to fight Cieslak on December 5 in Glendale, Arizona, before any Opetaia rematch plans progress.

According to Yahoo Sports, The Ring's Mike Coppinger first reported in early October that a Wilder fight was being explored, with the matchup taking roughly a month to be finalised before Wednesday's confirmation.

The addition slots into a card already carrying heavy promotional weight. BBC Boxing has released a trailer for a documentary titled Rivals: Fury v Joshua, examining how the pair's contrasting styles, personalities and career paths fuelled a rivalry that has run for more than a decade and now culminates in Cardiff.

With Wilder-Opetaia added alongside the Fury-Joshua main event, the December 11 card at Principality Stadium brings together two heavyweight story lines: the long-awaited settling of Britain's biggest domestic rivalry, and a cruiserweight champion testing himself against one of the division's most feared punchers.