Jai Opetia potential at hw?

Well, unlike Opetaia, he was actually impressive, maybe that's why and 90% of boxers gets hyped from these countries.

 

He is good but needs to first clean out his division. Also he won't be able to bully HW fighters like he does at CW

 

Really? I would say Opetaia is a much more proven fighter than jalolov.

 

Jalolov has an amateur record at SHW second to no-one under 30 at least emerging in the pro ranks.

Different game but not that much different that it can be discounted.

It's not Audley Harrison, good run at the right time, it's consistent.

 

UK and US have big boxing fan bases, so you can't blame them for getting excited about their own fighters. Also, NOBODY hypes Aussie fighters really, primarily because it's not a particularly big sport there, and partly because Australia has a very small population relative to its size, even taking into account the "densely" populated areas - Oppetaia is getting hyped because of what he's doing in the ring, how he looks while doing it etc. He's a great fighter to watch, and his potential ceiling is sky high

 

Bad move for Beterbiev. Yarde gave him a hell of a fight. Opetai is levels above Yarde and far more dangerous.

 

Old Briedis was still an excellent fighter and a world class cruiserweight. It was a very good performance from Jai all things considered.

That being said he still has much to prove and I remain unconvinced he can have the same success at heavyweight. Time will tell.

 

Your eyes must be painted on.

 

I meant to say this earlier, but to elaborate on what I know of the Australian boxing scene - and I'm happy to be corrected by any of our resident Aussie brothers - the population of Australia is roughly 26.5million people, less than half the UK population on a landmass 32x bigger, or 1/13th the US population on a landmass 15% smaller - that is to say, a fooking massive place. Furthermore, the population of Australia is spread primarily along the roughly 25,700km of it's coastline, resulting in a population density of 3 per km2, as opposed to the US at 37 (>12x) and the UKs 272 (almost 90x more) .
So the small population results in a smaller talent pool and a smaller likelihood of a world level boxer coming from Australia. Couple that with the sparse population density, and you've got a real struggle to pull together a decent local scene. It's not like the UK where Tyson Fury could be in AJ's back yard in 3.5 hours or less in a Lambo (depending on the state of the M6/M1), or the US where the Philly fight scene is strong and they can easily cover the distance to mix with the New York scene, as an example, there could be 1000s of kms between strong local schemes in Australia.

The cost of travel in Australia is far higher than the US (probably less than the UK where current prices are 8.26USD/gallon of fuel, and this is the lowest its been in a LONG time) and without much investment in the sport, or much of an inbuilt fanbase to bring in the money, the local scenes don't mix as easily as they can in the US and UK

All this to say, that when a world level fighter (a la Tszyu or Opetaia) emerges from these scenes, it's absolutely worth celebrating because if you can get to world level after building yourself in the Aussie scene, its highly unlikely you're a hypejob. I hope that doesn't sound condescending, I'm not trying to disparage Australian fighters or the boxing scene there, it's just from what I can tell Australia has an almost unique set of obstacles before you can get to the world stage there, and I take my hat off to anyone that can do it

F*** me I've never said Australia so much in my life

 

Just a technical point. Australia is now 27 million due to 500K+ increase in net immigration intake over the previous year. It's insane. There's a housing crisis but the immigration free-for-all adding to demand.

Also, Australia's population is extremely concentrated, except in the state of Queensland, the vast majority of it is in a handful of major cities.

 

Thanks mate much appreciated

 

Aussie here. Can confirm that your post pretty much covers it.

I like to think that we punch above our weight in terms of delivering quality fighters, especially those who leave our shores to roll the dice overseas. We have produced some genuinely world class talent and right now are experiencing a little bit of a golden age with the likes of Tszyu, Opetaia, Kambosos, Goodman and so on with a couple more in the locker, especially Huni who might be anything.

 

Absolutely, even guys like Horn showed they were world level, if not elite. I've always enjoyed watching Lucas Browne over the years, he never got overhyped, he is what he is - just a big hardman, blue collar fighter. So when a fighter out of Australia gets hype, I'm more up for it than I am for the typical British hypejob, even if some of them pan out in the end, I always think it's just Sky or Match room trying to manufacture the next star. Its why I could never get on the AJ hype train, because it was clear to see that when he found someone who could take the power and wasn't intimidated, he had flaws , yet I know plenty of people that thought he was a top all time heavy because of the media they were fed