Jai Opetaia says he is open to defending his IBF cruiserweight title against light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol if one or both want to move up in weight to challenge him.
Opetaia would have problems with Beterbiev’s search and destroy style of fighting, making it impossible for him to land his pot shots. The Aussie’s inside game is non-existent, and he doesn’t like to take punishment. Opetaia crumbled under pressure from Mairis Briedis in their rematch last May and looked like a mental wreck by the tenth. Beterbiev would be a nightmare for Opetaia.
Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) is the most likely of the two to move up to challenge the undefeated Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) if he captures WBA champion Bivol on October 12. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh may be interested in putting together a fight between Opetaia and Beterbiev for one of his giant events.
To capture the undisputed championship at 175, Beterbiev will leave no further goals to achieve at that weight. If Beterbiev destroys the finesse fighter Bivol as many boxing experts expect him to, a rematch will be pointless. Additionally, Canelo Alvarez has no interest in fighting Beterbiev, and there is no one else for him to fight.
Opetaia defends his IBF belt against Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KOs) on the undercard of Beterbiev-Bivol on October 12 at the Kingdon Arena in Riyadh.
“Why not? It’s a fight I would love to have,” said Jai Opetaia Boxing News about a fight against Dmitri Bivol. “I respect Bivol. I would love to share the ring with him. That chess match, that stylistic battle that people watch over and over again. These are the fights I grew up watching.”
Opetaia (29) adopted a Shakur-esque fighting style, using the in-and-out approach and avoiding exchanges. We saw this in Opetaia’s last fight against Mairis Briedis on May 18th.
Instead of fighting in his old style of fighting, Opetaia boxed and looked like Shakur Stevenson. It wasn’t the most entertaining fight to watch due to Opetaia’s retreating approach, but he had to fight this way because he was getting beaten by a motivated Briedis.
“I want to be the type of fighter that a coach shows his fighters: ‘This is what you’re meant to do. We want to put on clinics and fight smart,'” Opetaia said. “Having a fight like that will be big. I focus on fighting smart. The knockouts are coming, but I like to think of myself as a good boxer.”
What Opetaia is saying here is that he no longer fights in an aggressive manner now that he is facing better opposition. It was easier for him to look good when he was fighting lower level guys with no power like Elias Zorro and Jordan Thompson, but things are different now that he’s fighting top competition.
“Stylistically, the step forward fighter (Beterbiev) against the guy (Bivol) who just keeps cutting corners, it’s awesome as a boxing fan and the science of the sport. It’s a big fight and a big game,” Opetaia said.
