Just started watchin more of blud since there is a pretty big hypetrain on him and idk, he gets tagged a lot plus he looks like a Walmart Usyk with all those lead hand games despite havin' a better offensive (again, debatable.) Cruiserweight rn is mid and he just KOed a dude with 10 fights, do you think he has the varsity of someone who can rule the heavyweight division with an iron-fist since this era isn't particulary strong after Usyk leaves or someone will pick and tore him apart?
Can't be exposed in a division he is not in, and if he was to be exposed, Briedis would already do the job. Jai ain't perfect but he is tough and gritty, and he knows his offense.
Let me re-write my question better: Let's suppose he bulks to heavy after unifying/undisputing Cruiser, is there anybody who will give him fits or he will be a ruler there too?
If you're talking about his CW resume then no, he doesn't have the quality to assume he dominates at HW. But he's big for the division, has good movement, fast hands, great combination punching and looks to have a lot of grit and toughness, so there's no reason he wouldn't do well at HW. He's also quite young I think, so has room to improve and season if he adopts the right mindset. How well he does at HW depends on how much respect he can get from the bigger, tougher guys in the division, and how well he can adapt if he finds he can't put a dent in someone. But he has the tools and the quality to do very well. Someone like Kabayel might give him problems, but I think Kabayel gives anyone in the division problems including Usyk himself.
You don't need a HW to expose him. You just need a good smaller fighter like Beterbiev and Bivol. Bivol will beat him like he did with Zurdo.
He is too small to be a genuine HW There's no way he can stand and trade with the likes of Dubois, or Itauma and expect to walk away with his health intact He might get lucky and maneovure himself into a decent ranking but these guys are just too big and powerful for him. Look how small he looks against Usyk and I personally think Usyk looks small for a HW.
He’s gonna steamroll the lot of them once Usyk retires. The gap between cruiser and heavy has been way overstated for years. The reason why we haven’t had lot of cruiser champs become heavy champs isn’t because of physical limitations, it’s because there haven’t been many cruisers who are good enough.
How can he be “exposed” by going up from his natural division which he’s in all likelihood going to become undisputed in and wipe out all competition before he moves up….
I totally agree with you, among all the heavies recently, Kabayel is the one that impressed me the most ( baring Usyk of course)
We'll see. He has a very tough fight next in Zurdo and if he looks good then it would help his case to be successful at HW. Also, Opetaia IMO has to fight a strong gatekeeper in Miller, or Chisora to gain real HW experience and power like Usyk did. The way Opetaia fights, I worry if he gets tagged by the likes of Wardley and Dubois, hence he needs HW experience/tune-up before fighting the big dogs.
His defensive lapses and the way he throws punches suggests to me someone with power will spark him..unless his chin can hold up. Which is an unnown.
