“I can’t say,” Haney said on the Inside The Ring show when asked if Opetaia shows pound-for-pound quality. “I think Jai is good. I think he rises to the level of his competition. When he fights a lot better guys, it will bring out the best in him. But right now, I’m not impressed with him. I think he has skills. I see the ability. I think once we see him against better guys that are a real threat to him, we’ll see more of his arsenal.”
Veteran reporter Mike Coppinger made a similar point while discussing Opetaia’s standing during the same segment.
“He hasn’t shown that he’s great,” Coppinger said. “He could show it, but he didn’t face the competition. We need to see him against the winner of Benavidez vs. Zurdo, which we all expect to be Benavidez. He finally gets a superfight, and we find out, ‘Is Jai great?'”
Opetaia has dominated most of the opposition put in front of him, but the level of those opponents is still debated. His two fights with Mairis Breidis remain the most demanding fights on his record, and both were tough contests even though Breidis was in the later stages of his career at 37 and 39.
Opetaia fights a careful, technical style that relies on movement, timing and clean counters rather than trading punches. The approach has worked well against the opposition he has faced so far.
Some observers believe that Style will be more severely tested once he starts facing opponents who apply constant pressure and enforce a faster pace.
A fight against someone like David Benavidez, known for pushing forward and throwing punches in volume, would give a clearer idea of how Opetaia handles that kind of attack. For now, many feel his biggest tests are still ahead of him.
