Jai Opetaia vs Zhilei Zhang now who wins?

Opetaia could be too dynamic for Zhang but not sure how he would take Zhang's best punch. Hard to say as Opetaia hasn't fought in the HWs and Zhang is a huge HW.

Voted Zhang by KO only because he is proven at HW but either outcome wouldn't surprise me as Opetaia is a good fighter.

 

Zhang wouldn’t be able to find Opetaia in there. Opetaia boxes Zhang’s ears clean off and wins by KO anytime after about round 5 when Zhang is out of gas and can’t get out of the way of Opetaia who inevitably lands too many clean shots for Zhang to stay upright.

 

Agreed 100%

 

Zhang by KO.

 

Zhang via a dirty knockout. Jai is unproven with the big boys and isn’t even talking about moving up himself.

 

It's realistic to expect Opetaia to outbox Zhang, but Zhang is lethal when he catches his opponent cleanly, and if Opetaia opens up even a little, it could be dangerous...

 

If Opetaia can stay away from that big left for the first 5 rounds he wins a decision.

I don’t think he does though, he would need to tighten up his defence significantly to win a decision here. He would need at least one fight first at HW as preparation.

 

With what we know

Easy work for Zhang

 

Would be a good fight but Jai likes to fight at range, which might be difficult as the smaller guy. His footwork , chin and stamina would have to be on point to win.
If Zhang lands - Opetia is in big trouble, I like it as a fight as Zhang's gas tank gets less each fight, but there's danger for both men here

 

Kabayel exposed Zhangs weakness, and Zhang is not getting younger. For me it’s definitely a short fight, either Zhang gives up by round 3-4 or a lucky punch knocks out Jai. I would put probabilities at 80/20 for Jai but I would like to see this fight.

 

I'm gonna be realistic, if they made a fight between Opetaia and Zhang next, Opetaia wins it on points, might even stop him. Zhang is in his 40s and has a 3 round gas Tank, he isn't beating the best cruiserweight in the world, it's not happening. Parker does nothing better than Opetaia besides a flicking jab and the Jack Massey fight is proof

 

Opetaia wins like 8/10 times

 

Zhang has good timing with single shots, so all he has to do is land ONCE and Opetaia would naturally shell up and retreat

Look at the NATURAL size difference, it is enormous

Zhang has a much bigger structure, HUGE head, hands, wrists, dense bones compared to Opetaia who is not even a big CW.

 

I’ve been a bit surprised he’s not really mentioned moving up and he has really been taking his time at CW. I respect it though as he doesn’t need distractions in becoming undisputed CW champ.