The point is if heavyweights land the punches Briedes did in those last 3 rounds then Jai will be stopped, he`s very sloppy.
Evander was a great fighte with an amazing chin, Jai has been hurt at cruiserweight, Usyk is far better P4P than Jai and far quicker too.
Haye was nowhere near Usyk or Holy`s level, but there`s no doubt Jai would have dominated a slow heavy like Valuev though.
No Opatei just went life and death with Breidis TWICE They're just building him up so they can monetise him but I don't see anything great in him tbh. Probably the best in a bad division
People saying he doesn’t have a good defence, he’s only really been tagged by Briedis, he hasn’t had a close fight with anyone else, Briedis is an ATG at Crusierweight, his fight with Usyk could’ve gone either way, Briedis himself also hasn’t had a close fight with anyone else other than those 2, what I’m saying is that we can’t make a judgement in Opetaia’s defends based on that, Briedis is one of the best I’ve seen at setting up attacks, whether that be from countering or leading, I think Opetaia can have success at heavyweight, he’s very light on his feet and great at setting up punches himself and countering, yes he’s straight up at times, but so is Usyk, they make up for it with their footwork.
There are very few heavyweights anywhere near as good as Briedis. And Opetaia is still improving. Anybody categorically writing Opetaia off as a potential threat at heavyweight is silly.
Usyk looked far better v Briedis than Jai did and Jai couldn`t afford to get tagged as easy as that against a top heavyweight.
Usyk is quicker than Jai, no way could Jai do to Fury what Usyk did despite maybe flooring Fury in sparring, Usyk took heavy shots from Fury, shots that would have really hurt Jai.
I am not writing him off at all. I think he can pick up a belt and beat some top heavies. But his defense has to get better. Cruiserweight Usyk had some amazing defense and Jai needs to get better. A lot better. He needs 6-8 fights at heavyweight vs decent competition before he can fight for the title.
I don't dispute that, but the guy still has an enormous amount of upside. He's clearly the best cruiser out there so there is no reason he wouldn't step up and take a look at straps against the bigger guys. I'd have him ranked in the top 10 at HW right now, and closer to 5 than 10. We literally have idiots in here writing him off after a couple of average rounds against Briedis who he was beating easily. But if he was an American they'd be creaming themselves.