David Benavidez is being linked to a host of major names after his latest win, and his father and trainer has dismissed the chances of his son losing to one of those in-demand contenders, believing the fight would not see the third round.
‘The Mexican Monster’ became the unified WBO and WBA cruiserweight world champion by dominating and stopping Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez on Saturday, in one of the performances of the year thus far.
Ever since, Benavidez has had a number of options suggested for what could be next, including a mammoth showdown with Dmitry Bivol, a move up to heavyweight and a potential scrap with Jai Opetaia – deemed to be Benavidez’s biggest cruiserweight threat.
Although, speaking to Mill City Boxing, Jose Benavidez Sr revealed that he is unimpressed by the skills of the Australian, who was stripped of his IBF cruiserweight world title for a second time when he signed with Zuffa Boxing earlier this year.
“Don’t get me wrong, Jai Opetaia is a good fighter, but he doesn’t have a chin. In all of his fights he gets hurt. I don’t think that he has a good jab, I don’t think that he has good defence, I don’t think that he has a good body shot, I don’t think that he has a good uppercut; he is just a good fighter.
“He is a fighter that is disciplined, I see the discipline, I just don’t see that talent.”
Benavidez Sr then went on to lay out his prediction for the contest if it were to go ahead, believing that his son would run through Opetaia ‘in one or two rounds’.
“Everybody thought that the weight of Zurdo and the power was going to be a big difference. Opetaia… I think that David would stop him in one or two rounds.”
It remains to be seen whether the move to Zuffa will prevent Opetaia from fighting contenders that are not signed with Dana White’s promotional outfit, as fan pressure and demand for that bout continues to increase.
