The show will finally go on for Mairis Briedis.

BoxingScene.com has confirmed that a new date is assigned to Briedis’ second defense of his lineal/IBF cruiserweight championship versus mandatory challenger Jai Opetaia. The twice-postponed bout will now take place July 2 at the originally targeted location of Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.

Wasserman Boxing, Briedis’ promoter, confirmed that the show will move forward in hopes that the third time’s a charm. The bout will air live on Australia Main Event in that part of the world, while ESPN+ has picked up the U.S. rights beginning 5:00 a.m. ET according to its current schedule.

Briedis (28-1, 20KOs) hits the road for the second time during his third tour as a cruiserweight titlist.

The 37-year-old from Riga, Latvia outpointed Yuniel Dorticos over twelve-rounds in their oft-postponed World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament final in September 2020 in Munich, Germany. Briedis entered as the challenger, having previously claimed the WBO title but forced to relinquish for failure to honor a WBO-ordered rematch following their controversial June 2019 affair which Briedis won by third-round knockout.

Wedged in between the IBF title win and his upcoming defense, Briedis scored a third-round knockout of Artur Mann last October in his Riga hometown.

The mandatory title defense against Opetaia (21-0, 17KOs) was due to take place April 6, only for Briedis to withdraw from the date after testing positive for Covid. The bout was rescheduled for May 11 but once again put on hold when Opetaia suffered an injury—ironically discovered on April 6, when they were first due to fight—which required minor surgery.

Wasserman and D & L Events—the local promotional outfit headed by Dean Lonergan—worked together to keep intact as much as possible from the original promotion, save for a new fight date.

Opetaia enters as a considerable underdog given his lack of depth in the pro ranks. However, the unbeaten challenger and regional favorite is a highly credentialed former amateur standout, representing Australia in the 2012 London Olympics. He did so as the reigning Junior World Champion and—at age 16—the youngest ever boxer to represent Australia in the Olympics.

The combination of Opetaia’s favorable IBF ranking and local appeal was enough to bring this fight to Australia, where Briedis will fight for the first time in his well-traveled 13-year career.

Briedis previously held the WBC cruiserweight title, which he lost after one defense in a January 2018 narrow decision in favor of Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13KOs) who went on to become the undisputed champ one fight later.

Usyk vacated all four major titles by 2019, when he embarked on a heavyweight run that has led to his claiming the WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO titles following a September 2021 win over Anthony Joshua. Briedis has since emerged as the class of the cruiserweight division and its lineal champion.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox