Beterbiev v Opetaia at Cruiserweight

Opetaia clobbers him in a mismatch.

 

I love Opetaia too and whilst I have faith he will go on to prove his talent and promise and will be rooting to him to do so, he has only beaten one world class opponent as of now: A faded Briedis in Jai's backyard.

Granted, Briedis was ranked #1 at the weight and still very powerful and formidable and Jai proved a lot in that fight and ticked a number of boxes.

And yes, even against domestic levels like Thompson and Zorro who had no right being in a ring with a top 10 CW, let alone the #1, his skills and talent are obvious.

I'm not talking about current version of Beterbiev because he's 39 in a couple of weeks with a ton of mileage on the clock and wear and tear on his body and Father Time is going to grab that W from him very soon, like possibly even in his next fight when he's facing someone who would stand next to no chance against him if he was in his prime. I'm talking about a prime Beterbiev.

Jai, like Usyk wasn't, is not a massive CW. He walks around at about 210lbs so the weight disparity between them whilst a lot isn't as much as many would assume it is and Beterbiev is freakishly strong and powerful for his size and, as said, he fought up at HW in the amateurs with great success and scored a lot of stoppages at that weight despite not even weighing 190lbs.

It would never be some easy fight for Jai. Beterbiev is not an easy opponent for any CW. It just wouldn't. Beterbiev has fought and beaten a ton of top fighters amateur and pro and he does very well against bigger men.

Usyk said Beterbiev was his toughest opponent in the amateurs and that he does punch very hard despite the fact that Usyk weighed 200lbs and Beterbiev didn't even weigh 190lbs. Usyk fought huge punchin SHW giants in the WSB and has fought a ton of punchers so for him to praise Beterbiev's power speaks volumes, especially given Beterbiev is one of the few to hurt Usyk (body shots).

When Beterbiev fought the bigger Michael ''The Bounty'' Hunter Jr. in the Olympics who spent most of his senior amateur years up at SHW fighting SHW giants like Belly, Fat Andy and many other elite or top SHW amateurs, Hunter was the one who was looking to spoil and hold in the final round in order to contain Beterbiev's pressure and power. I'm not even gonna pick a winner but it would be a very tough fight for both. Beterbiev has a really difficult style to deal with and if he could bulk up to 200lbs he would've been a serious force at CW too.

 

Jai was a very good amateur. World Youth champion, lost a razor-close decision to the #1 seed in the Olympics as a 16 y/o. Had he stayed in the amateurs longer he would've medalled at major senior championships of that I am sure, whether it be gold, silver or bronze.

Among many others, Beterbiev beat future world champions Usyk, Kovalev, Gvozdyk, and Dorticos in the amateurs, beat a ton of other gold, silver and bronze medalists and elite amateurs, beat a lot of elite amateurs who never even turned pro but had they done so would've gone on to become top contenders and some world champions. He doesn't even have a amateur style but he still had an extremely impressive and highly decorated amateur career.

He didn't even turn pro until he was 28.5 y/o but had he just turned pro one Olympic cycle earlier he would've achieved so much more and he was an absolute wrecking machine in his early 20s was the most feared amateur of his generation.

A lot of the world champion pros who didn't have outstanding amateurs careers turned pro in their teens or early 20s but had they stayed amateur longer they may well or likely would have too but even if you look at the current champs a lot of them did have great or good amateur careers behind them.

Beterbiev would not be making a massive leap up in class against Jai. Size yes, but not class because Beterbiev has fought at the elite level for most of his life and fought some great fighters.

I don't know how many times I have to say this but Jai is one of my current top 10 favourite fighters and I rate him very highly, love his style, his personality (I've watched loads of his interviews. I watch two long in depth ones just yesterday one being just under an hour, the other just under half an hour).

He's a really likeable guy and he's a respectful guy too. Super confident, pretty intimidating, but a good guy and easy to root for. But, as talented as he is, as much promise as he shows, he's only beaten one world class fighter so far, a faded but still very formidable and powerful Briedis who despite the fact he turns 39 next week I still believe is the 2nd best CW in the world providing he's still what he was when he fought Jai and that is a big if. And it was an extremely impressive performance and he displayed a lot of skill, power and talent and a ton of toughness and heart. Both of them displayed a lot of toughness and heart, in fact.

Other than that great win and performance for Jai which rightfully earned him the #1 CW he hasn't beaten anyone world class. He looked sensational in both his two subsequent performances against Thompson and Zorro but neither is close to world class. What do you think a prime Beterbiev would do to them? And seeing as I'm not talking about Jai vs a 39 y/o LHW Beterbiev, but rather a hypothetical prime 200lb CW Beterbiev had he turned pro much earlier, what do you think that version of Beterbiev would do to them? The same Thompson who was dropped and badly hurt by Euro level Vasil Ducar and saved from a certain KO loss by the final bell and Zorro who has gone life and death a domestic level and Euro level a bunch of times.

Again, I rate Jai very highly, see him as a future P4P star, and I firmly believe he will become undisputed at CW and that he possesses the talent to win a world title at HW, perhaps even more. But as highly as rate him he still has to prove it first. He has a lot of work to do and I genuinely believe he's going to do it.

All I've said is I think a fight between a prime CW Beterbiev vs prime Jai would be very competitive and not an easy fight for either. I didn't say Beterbiev would beat him. I'm not picking a winner because I'm a fan of both not because I secretly think Beterbiev would beat him. What is so unreasonable about that position?

The smaller Usyk you're referring to was at least 10lbs heavier than Beterviev and probably only 5-7lbs lighter than the CW pro Usyk who says Beterbiev was probably his toughest opponent in the amateurs even though he wasn't a natural HW and Usyk was and he had fought a ton of other elite HWs and he fought giant SHWs in the WSB, some of whom were some of the best amateur SHWs in the world and massive punchers at that weight. Beterbiev gave him everything he could handle over a format which favours the boxer.

Would a prime CW Beterbiev beat the CW Usyk in the pros? Probably not but, as with a prime CW Beterbiev vs a prime Jai, I still think it would be very competitive.

Usyk fought a prime Briedis in Latvia, Jai fought a faded Bridies who had to travel halfway across the world to Jai's backyard. Jai said he doesn't want to rematch Briedis in Latvia even though Briedis brought his belt to his backyard in the first fight. I'm not trying to diminish Jai's win by saying Briedis was faded. He just was but he was still a hell of a fighter and the best CW in the world going in. He'd just lost as step as you would expect a fighter of his age would, and as will Jai at the same age too.

I've been telling people for years Usyk and Beterbiev are past their prime and they are. Go watch the CW Usyk and the WSB Usyk and the difference in speed, reaction times, reflexes among other things is very noticeable. It doesn't mean he isn't still a beast though.

Also, Usyk fought the wrong type of fight against Briedis and he parted ways with his trainer after the fight. He could've made that fight significantly easier for himself but he chose to stand in front of Briedis and trade with him for large spells of that fight which is why many were saying it was a FOTY contender.

 

Re. Hunter has very good form at HW. He stopped the huge punching current WBA #1 Bakole, beat and dropped Kuzmin, abd fought to a controversial draw against Povetkin albeit a well past prime but still very dangerous punching version.

Hunter also campaigned up at SHW in the ams for most of his senior career, beating Fat Andy via stoppage (outclassed rule IIRC) and facing the likes of Belly and many other top or elite SHW giants. None of them could stop or floor him IIRC.

Jai has no form to speak of at SHW in the amateurs and HW in the pros but I still think he could win a title at HW even though he would very likely giving away a lot more weight than a CW version of Beterbiev would against him.

 

If they do retire and Jai moves up to HW in a couple of years AJ and some of the other current crop might possibly have also retired by then or maybe not and the young or younger guns like Hrgovic, Anderson, Jalolov, Dubois, Moses Itaumu etc. might be the crop he has to beat to do so

 

It's not so much that they determine future results but rather they often determine future pro success, and I'm not just talking about fighters who just did well or got lucky with the draw in one major tournament or fighters whose style was only ever going to be suited to the amateur game. I mean continued success at the highest level over many years.

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words

That's fine. I see it differently but like I said, I never actually picked Beterbiev to win, he's just a real handful and I don't recall ever seeing anyone ever have an easy time with him amateur or pro.

Generally I would always pick the good or great big man to defeat the good or great little one pretty handily when you have such a huge gap between weights like we do with LHW and CW, but, as said, Beterbiev is so freakishly strong and powerful for his size and if a prime version did bulk up to 200lbs he would be even more so.

Jai vs a small LHW and much less powerful Bivol just wouldn't be a fair fight IMO.