At CW Jai but Usyk obviously fought way better opposition and he's primarily a slick boxer who can punch and he isn't trying to take your head off with single shots. Jai is a skilled boxer too but he loads up on the big left hand trying to take your head off and knock you out
Assuming this is a cruiserweight comparison. Jai looks like he has much more raw natural power. Usyk is so technically brilliant & accurate i think his power translates much better than Jai. Jai can be very wild, putting all the power into telegraphed shots allowing his opponent to feel the heavy hands but also see it coming and brace, Usyk can find a shot thats so accurate but with what seems much less powerful than what Jai would have thrown, it will put you over. You can see the power in Jai when he does manage to land one or two that isnt so telegraphed and wild because it puts the lights out. The thing with Opetaia, yes the opposition is light years apart from what Usyk has faced, however people bought into the Wilder knockout power with these calibre of opponents, and the majority of the last 3 or 4 have been lights out KOs. One thing i will say though is, Heavyweight Usyk, you can really see the difference in his power now hes sitting on shots and launching that IVAN. One thing people really sleep on is Usyks power. I think it took Usyk to send Fury ice skating in the first fight to start giving him respect for his power, maybe a bit like Fury finally got some respect when he too started to sit on his shots and took Wilder out in the 2nd fight.
Usyk was 9-0 (9 KO) at CW below the world level and the only fighters to take him the distance at CW in his 16-0 (12 KOs) run at that weight are Briedis Gassiev Glowacki Hunter Briedis, Gassiev and Hunter have never been dropped, let alone stopped sans the technical KD Usyk scored against Hunter when the ref ruled the ropes prevented him from going down Glowacki has subsequently been stopped but he was undefeated when he fought Usyk and Usyk boxed to orders in that fight and wasn't really trying to get him out of there. Just like he wasn't with Gassiev. In fact, when Usyk comes in with the mindset he wants to punish you and get you out of there it's very noticeable and we don't see him do that much. Dubois II obviously being one example And I don't mean pouncing on the opponent after hurting them trying to get them out of there. I mean entering the ring with that bad intentions mindset So whilst I could see Jai getting Glowacki out of there, I can't say he would do the same to prime Gassiev and Hunter (and obviously he didn't get Briedis out of there) in hypothetical match ups because they're both super tough and haven't ever been dropped, let alone stopped or KO'd. It's possible he could but we can't really say he would with any degree of confidence because he hasn't done so to opponents of that calibre and teak-toughness yet and both those fights would come with a lot of risk too because both Gasiev and Hunter are, or rather in their prime they were, world class big punchers, especially Gassiev. Usyk outboxed Gassiev, if we did have a time machine and a fight between a prime Jai vs Gassiev could materialize I would strongly advise Jai to do the same because prime Gassiev is not a fighter you want to take risks vs But, as said, I would give it to Jai at CW because of the manner he's getting these guys out of there albeit them all being much lower quality opposition than Usyk fought
Good post. Not sure how Opetaia would do vs guys like Hunter or Gassiev. But i suspect Opetaia would get guys like Mnchunu and Huck out of their faster.
Jai Opetaia easily. The guy is always looking to knock you out cold. Usyk is a hard puncher himself but not as explosive as Jai.
Thanks. Could be but we'll never know. We might never know how he fares against the best CWs of his generation if they keep ducking him
To be fair, Fury was knocked down by 207 lb Cunningham who is hardly a puncher. Dubois has a mental block vs Usyk. In the first fight, Dubois went down to a jab. i think he was mentally exhausted more than anything.
To be fair to Usyk, this is a brutal KO over a fighter who is much better than everyone Jai has KO'd Not a dig at Jai who I'm a big fan of it's Usyk love Look at how much faster and accurate Usyk was back then He barely misses a punch and even when he does another fast one is coming immediately afterwards This content is protected