Jai Opetaia is eyeing up a showdown with David Benavidez after defeating Noel Mikaelian on Saturday, and two-division world champion Tim Bradley has offered his thoughts on the clash.
Opetaia became the first man to halt Mikaelian, as the Armenian-American was stopped after nine rounds of action in the co-main event of the Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn bill.
Despite Mikaelian being the WBC champion ahead of the bout, Opetaia did not get his hands on the belt, as the WBC instead refused to sanction the fight and have now stripped Mikaelian of their title.
It means that Poland’s Michal Cieslak has been elevated to full world champion, ahead of a reported showdown with WBA and WBO cruiserweight ruler Benavidez on December 12.
A victory for ‘The Mexican Monster’ in that contest is anticipated to set up an in-demand clash with Opetaia for 2027, but Bradley told his YouTube channel that he can only see one winner.
“Jai Opetaia, yo a** shouldn’t be on the pound-for-pound list, period. You get that butter treatment with Zuffa. Benavidez is going to smoke your a**.
“Everybody thinks that performance last night was butter. Man, that dude slowed down, he got tired and s**t. You [Opetaia] have just got more athletic ability than most of these guys, that’s just it. The vision is weak.
“You and Benavidez are the hottest names in the division and Benavidez is going to whoop your a**! I can’t wait!”
Whilst Benavidez is first focussed on becoming a three-belt (WBA, WBO & WBC) unified cruiserweight world champion, Opetaia has filed a federal lawsuit agains the IBF in the hope of being reinstated as their champion after being stripped of the belt earlier this year after joining Zuffa Boxing.
Should the IBF decide to award their vacant belt to Opetaia, Benavidez could square off with the Aussie for the undisputed cruiserweight championship around Cinco De Mayo in 2027.
