Jai Opetaia is in hot pursuit of David Benavidez following his latest win and fan-favourite four-division world champion Roy Jones Jr has a unique outlook on the fight, as hype around the potential match-up starts to build.
Opetaia became the first man to stop reigning WBC cruiserweight world champion Noel Mikaelian, as he halted the Armenian-American in round nine of a bout where the WBC title was not at stake.
The WBC have now stripped Mikaelian of his title and elevated Michal CIeslak as their new champion, ahead of a showdown with unified WBA and WBO titleholder David Benavidez reportedly on Saturday, December 12.
Should Benavidez come through that three-belt unification unscathed, a showdown with Opetaia is expected to follow.
Speaking with Parimatch, Jones claimed that Oleksandr Usyk would have been an easier fight for Benavidez than Australia’s Opetaia.
“Usyk was an easier fight for him [Benavidez] than Opetaia is. Opetaia is younger, stronger. Opetaia is, to me, much more dangerous for David Benavidez than Usyk is. I thought all along he should’ve taken Usyk over Opetaia.
“But now that he has Opetaia, he’s gotta take him instead, because that’s all that’s left for him unless he goes and fights the light heavyweights.
“If he fought [Dmitry] Bivol or [Artur] Beterbiev, those are highly interesting fights too. Jai Opetaia showed a lot of good things over the weekend. He’s big, but Benavidez is too. He does have punching power. He has shock on his punches, and those are the things that make a difference in the fight sometimes.
“I would like to see how Benavidez takes his punch. If Benavidez takes his punch, then he’s gonna be in trouble, because Benavidez has a work rate out of this world. But we gotta see: can Benavidez take his punch first?”
The victor of Benavidez-Cieslak will be ordered to take on Opetaia, with fight fans hoping that no further hurdles get in the way of one of the most intriguing bouts in the sport.
