Prime Gassiev vs Opetaia at cruiserweight

Dorticos isn’t better than Opetaia.

And Briedis career state when he fought Opetaia, especially the first time is well overblown. He was not very much past his prime and it’s insulting to Opetaia to say that he was.

That first win alone is better than anything Gassiev has on his CV. And Briedis cracks just as hard yet couldn’t sit Opetaia down in 24 rounds.

 

Not what I meant. Gassiev fought much better opposition than Opetaia was the point I was trying to make. Opetaia is a very good fighter but the CW division is absolute crap today.

 

Lebedev is at least as good as Opetaia

 

Gassiev probably KO's him.
It's another one of those, 'but my hype fighter would if he could', yet he never fights these dangerous opponents. They have to be jaded if they ever were dangerous.
Not too long ago opetiaiaa was fighting a 5'11 RUGBY PLAYER.
Even AJ was less protected than that.
Gassiev will likely land over 12 and finish the show.

The whole skillz argument doesn't work so well with the one-punch KO guys because they need so few clean hits to win over the course of a fight. You can outbox them all you want while they look for the KO and have over half an hour to land it.

Look, why doesn't opetaiaia just call him out now? He was an ex-cruiser, so not a SHW. What's the problem? Good entry to HW. Just do it and steal the thunder. That's what Charr would do.

Oh wait, they just watched the KO again on YT. How about Wallin, instead. Is he available?

 

Opetaia was fairly cautious against old briedis in the rematch. When the old man got going he busted opetai up again.

I think gassiev improves upon this

 

I like lebedev in this fight

 

Jai certainly doesn't have a glass face. He fought Breidis with a broken jaw for a significant portion of the fight. Not saying he wouldn't get clipped and go down, but Jai has a chin.

 

I say Opetaia, the Australian has good footwork, while Gassiev has a big flaw in his footwork, which was clearly seen against Usyk and Wallin.

 

Ah okay hard to disagree there

 

You insinuate the Opetaia is protected.

Therefore we can literally dismiss everything you say on this site as it is crystal clear that you don’t have the first idea what you are talking about.

 

Yet he has never been down.

 

Opetaia shoud have moved up to heavyweight. If the other beltholders won't fight him its the obvious move.

 

Would be a very interesting fight, but I agree with your assessment.

Prime Gassiev gets a bit underrated now because of how completely Usyk schooled him.
But part of that was because Usyk took him seriously as a very real threat, and didn't cruise or lose focus.
The odds were actually 50-50 pre-fight and Gassiev was also very highly regarded within the industry.

That being said, with today's versions I'd favour Opetaia as he's prime while Gassiev post injury doesn't seem to have the same power or aggression.