Don’t like predicting how good someone is at a different division, but I think if Opetaia is as good as he is at CW he will beat Wardley. Wardley is a much harder puncher than anyone Opetaia has fought.
Wardley would win as many completed rounds against Opetaia as he did against Huni - none. He would get outboxed embarrassingly easily.
Come on, Opetaia’s getting consistently wobbled by CW journeymen. Wardley has been cracked by much bigger punchers and never wobbled. And for everyone who goes on about how “crazy” Jai is, Wardley is just as maniacal, if not more.
People are getting a skewed view of Opetaia because he got caught by Cinkara and Nyika but looked to me like he was trying to put on a show/play to the Australian crowd in those fights and maybe got a bit carried away. Against Breidis and Massey he was a lot more disciplined. I know people will say Breidis hurt him but Breidis is an ATG cruiserweight, gave Usyk his toughest fight, and fought an Opetaia who had never fought any top guys. And they were still dominant wins for Opetaia. Opetaia beats Wardley, either decision or maybe late stoppage due to accumulation.
Well, if Opetaiia connects with a shot like he KOed Cinkara with, Fabio will be the one getting poleaxed.
Nice, you said what I wanted to say. Opetaia like most others fights to the level of his opponents or the perceived threat. I thought cinkara was solid and he found the timing to hit opetaia. But opetaia didn't mind too much. He used brute force and not finesse. Against wardley i'm sure that would be different. And it's not like wardley has never looked vulnerable, mostly stamina wise. And let it be said that both in their search for the best opponents and their fan friendly fighting style are heads and shoulders above the rest. I just seriously dislike opetaias kos... Nyika and cinkara were really bad and the one pponent before cinkara i felt he wanted to spare frim his full force...
I think anyone with HW aspirations, considered some 'talented' boxer and with courage, would take that fabio fight. Until fabio beat the cokehead family man, everyone thought he had no skills. At the same time we've been hearing about how amazing onopetaiai is for years, how he should fight Usyk etc. He's an amazing talent apparently. So it's a no brainer to go fight the HW with no skills who has only beaten the cokehead family man. Right? He would quite comfortably win a HW title. Wardley is the weak link at HW, even the opportunist Haye would take that fight. I sense this character is massively protected, even more than the cokehead family man has been.