Opetaia is going to have to move up without unifying, isn’t he?

His promoter, DLH, has zero interest in making the fight. I wouldn't put it past DLH to sabotage this somehow. Unless Zurdo demands it . Like Garcia did to face Davis. We saw what happened there. DLH knows Zurdo will get smoked. He would rather milk that cow for as long as he can.

 

If Zurdo (and his people) cynically took a Paul fight, for numerous reasons I'd fully expect Zurdo to carry Paul for 8 or 9 rounds.

 

Breidis decimates Paul within two rounds, like Joshua did with Ngannou. Even someone like Bellew coming out of retirement would knock Paul spark out. Tommy Fury outboxed him, a domestic-level British fighter (at best) - Breidis' last fight was a competitive loss against Jai, there's no way Paul's team even contemplates that fight.

He's a carefully managed kid from the suburbs who cares more about his brand than the sport. If every aspect of his boxing "career" isn't meticulously managed, he faces becoming a meme, which is the worst case scenario for someone whose only currency is attention on social media. Breidis would be an insane risk to take, and it would be such a one-sided loss that the talk of Paul being anywhere near world level will be put to bed for good.

 

Once he beat Briedis and became the Ring champ, that's all he needed to do.

This generation of fans are really into belt collecting. Trying to collect them all isn't worth the trouble most of the time.

All it's gotten us is twice as many beltholders as before, because now the orgs are all naming "interim" champs the moment one guy unifies.

The WBC used to have one champ per division. Now, since unifications have become the norm, there are now six WBC interim champs and counting. The WBO used to have one. Now they have many interim champs. The IBF has them. The WBA calls them Regular champs, but has tons.

Even unifying four belts doesn't mean you have all the belts anymore. What's the point?

 

Please no.

Real fighters? Please watch and re-watch AJ vs. Ngannou. Defend the honor of the sport like AJ did. No mercy. A non-boxer wants to get in the ring with a capable boxer? Great. Show everyone what happens when you **** around like that.

Zurdo is fully capable of massacring Paul. I'd be highly disappointed if he held back even an ounce.