Comments Thread For: Jai Opetaia to defend cruiserweight belt against Claudio Squeo

[The Big Dunn]

Turki needs to spend money to buy Zurdo some testicular fortitude to make the fight we want to see.

[Joseph]

I like Jai, but fights like this keep me from loving him. Apart from the Briedis wars (which I believe stunted him a bit), what do we really know about him? He looks wonderful in a barren division, I'll say that.

[SouthpawRight]

I like Jai, but fights like this keep me from loving him. Apart from the Briedis wars (which I believe stunted him a bit), what do we really know about him? He looks wonderful in a barren division, I'll say that.

Bivol Jai 2026

Jai can move up and fight his cousin Parker after

[PRINCEKOOL]

As long as Jai Opetaia is defending his titles against mandatory challengers and does not vacate his titles 'Then this level of fight is allowable at times, as a Champion'.

Championship belts provide opportunities for fighters, and continuous business for a Prize fighter 'This is what people need to understand about professional boxing, the fighters are tradesmen'.

Jai Opetaia's last fight was against a solid fighter vs David Nyika 'And he won that fight in impressive fashion, against a opponent who came to win and showed a solid level of resistance'.

I just personally think once a Cruiserweight fighter 'Unifies their division and is clearly the number 1 fighter in the weight class. The next move they should make is to invade the Heavyweight division'.

Note: Historically all the dominant Cruiserweight Champions have done this 'Evander Holyfield, David Haye and Oleksandr Uysk'.

Going back in history Jai Opetaia would have been a Heavyweight fighter, pre 1979 'I personally regard most Cruiserweight fighters, as classical physique styled Heavyweight fighters, especially since the weight limit was moved to the 200 pound limit'.

The longer Opetaia takes to unify all the titles, this will delay his biggest challenge in the game 'Which will be to compete in the Heavyweight Division'.

It is understandable why certain fighters would want to stay in the Cruiserweight Division 'Maybe they think the competition is easier there compared to colliding with Super Heavyweight fighters? But I am not so certain the competition skill for skill, and athletically is easier in the Cruiserweight Division'.

Jai Opetaia in his last fight against David Nyika has most likely just fought a overall better conditioned athlete 'Than most of the Heavyweight Division. Skill for skill Nyika is also potentially superior to over 80% of the Heavyweight Division'.

You very rarely see Cruiserweight fighter's miles out of condition like Martin Bakole or Jarrell Miller 'The medium level Cruiserweight fighters, are clearly superior athletes to these modern day Super Heavyweight fighters. And because the Cruiserweight Divisions still has traits of all the lower weight classes, the only real way fighters are distancing themselves from their nearest competition, is by actually being better fighters skill for skill'.

This is not always the case in the Heavyweight Division 'Sometimes you have fighters, mainly relying on just being super heavyweights and out weighing their opponents. A fighter like Tyson Fury was a great fighter, but skill for skill he was clumsy and prone to making unforced error's at a high frequency in most of his top level fights. What negated this trait of Fury's game, was that he just so happened to outweigh most of his opponents by a considerable amount. This did aid in his survival, which is not a criticism? After all it was a skill for Fury being able to utilize his extra mass'.

To conclude: When a fighter lives and competes in a division like the Cruiserweight Division's 'Skill for skill and athletically, they are being moulded into better fighters than many of today's Super Heavyweight fighters especially in terms of skill for skill boxing, and general conditioning. The major challenge they will have to overcome in the Heavyweight Division is the potential increase in power and brute strength of their competition. That is it'.

The Heavyweight Division is still the ultimate division in combat sports 'Because there is a great variation of styles, but? I think it should be clear now, that classic physique Heavyweight Fighters like Holyfield, Haye, Uysk and potentially Opetaia. Can move up into the division, win world titles or at the very least be live contenders' etc.

[SouthpawRight]

As long as Jai Opetaia is defending his titles against mandatory challengers and does not vacate his titles 'Then this level of fight is allowable at times, as a Champion'.

Championship belts provide opportunities for fighters, and continuous business for a Prize fighter 'This is what people need to understand about professional boxing, the fighters are tradesmen'.

Jai Opetaia's last fight was against a solid fighter vs David Nyika 'And he won that fight in impressive fashion, against a opponent who came to win and showed a solid level of resistance'.

I just personally think once a Cruiserweight fighter 'Unifies their division and is clearly the number 1 fighter in the weight class. The next move they should make is to invade the Heavyweight division'.

Note: Historically all the dominant Cruiserweight Champions have done this 'Evander Holyfield, David Haye and Oleksandr Uysk'.

Going back in history Jai Opetaia would have been a Heavyweight fighter, pre 1980 'I personally regard most Cruiserweight fighters, as classical physique styled Heavyweight fighters, especially since the weight limit was moved to the 200 pound limit'.

The longer Opetaia takes to unify all the titles, this will delay his biggest challenge in the game 'Which will be to compete in the Heavyweight Division'.

It is understandable why certain fighters would want to stay in the Cruiserweight Division 'Maybe they think the competition is easier there compared to colliding with Super Heavyweight fighters? But I am not so certain the competition skill for skill, and athletically is easier in the Cruiserweight Division'.

Jai Opetaia in his last fight against David Nyika has most likely just fought a overall better conditioned athlete 'Than most of the Heavyweight Division. Skill for skill Nyika is also potentially superior to over 80% of the Heavyweight Division'.

You very rarely see Cruiserweight fighter's miles out of condition like Martin Bakole or Jarrell Miller 'The medium level Cruiserweight fighters, are clearly superior athletes to these modern day Super Heavyweight fighters. And because the Cruiserweight Divisions still has traits of all the lower weight classes, the only real way fighters are distancing themselves from their nearest competition, is by actually being better fighters skill for skill'.

This is not always the case in the Heavyweight Division 'Sometimes you have fighters, mainly relying on just being super heavyweights and out weighing their opponents. A fighter like Tyson Fury was a great fighter, but skill for skill he was clumsy and prone to making unforced error's at a high frequency in most of his top level fights. What negated this trait of Fury's game, was that he just so happened to outweigh most of his opponents by a considerable amount. This did aid in his survival, which is not a criticism? After all it was a skill for Fury being able to utilize his extra mass'.

To conclude: When a fighter lives and competes in a division like the Cruiserweight Division's 'Skill for skill and athletically, they are being moulded into better fighters than many of today's Super Heavyweight fighters especially in terms of skill for skill boxing, and general conditioning. The major challenge they will have to overcome in the Heavyweight Division is the potential increase in power and brute strength of their competition. That is it'.

The Heavyweight Division is still the ultimate division in combat sports 'Because there is a great variation of styles, but? I think it should be clear now, that classic physique Heavyweight Fighters like Holyfield, Haye, Uysk and potentially Opetaia. Can move up into the division, win world titles or at the very least be live contenders' etc.

Jai needs to tighten up his defense for heavyweight because he’ll be smaller hittable with a high possibility of being one shotted

Nyika recently hurt him with a hook in a 1-2-3 combo. Jai’s legs shivered and he immediately clinched

Briedis right hand broke Jai’s jaw in multiple locations

[kiaba360]

He'll probably have to fight his mandatory after this, too.

I assume this will be the case too; Nyika was a late replacement when Cinkara pulled out. After Squeo, it'll probably be Cinkara. Barring a loss or injury, Opetaia will probably get his unification at the end of 2025 or very beginning of 2026. Opetaia has to stay healthy and focused until then.

[crimsonfalcon07]

Papin is ranked #2 by the TBRB and #3 by The Ring
Cieslak is ranked #4 by the TBRB, #7 by ESPN, and #6 by The Ring
Masternak is ranked #5 by the TBRB and #6 by ESPN
Ngabu is ranked #9 by the TBRB, plus he has the IBO trinket
Mosquea is ranked #10 by the TBRB and #10 by The Ring
Glanton is ranked #9 by The Ring

So you literally just named 6 guys from the IBF top 15 that would be much better opponents than Squeo, who is not independently ranked by anybody. Six legitimate, world-ranked contenders and he didn't pick any of them.

Or he did, and they didn't sign. He said as much; Squeo was the guy who agreed to fight. He wasn't happy with the fight, calling it a stay-busy fight, but it was the fight he could get. And I still don't think he would get credit for fighting any of these "legit ranked contenders". People would be complaining about their ages, number of losses, weakness of the division, etc. I'm not going to give him flak when we don't know who got sent offers, and when I do know that IBF has strict rules about who he can fight as a voluntary. I'm perfectly happy with giving the IBF flak for their terrible rankings that permit this sort of fight.

[famicommander]

Or he did, and they didn't sign. He said as much; Squeo was the guy who agreed to fight. He wasn't happy with the fight, calling it a stay-busy fight, but it was the fight he could get. And I still don't think he would get credit for fighting any of these "legit ranked contenders". People would be complaining about their ages, number of losses, weakness of the division, etc. I'm not going to give him flak when we don't know who got sent offers, and when I do know that IBF has strict rules about who he can fight as a voluntary. I'm perfectly happy with giving the IBF flak for their terrible rankings that permit this sort of fight.

What a cop out. You started out saying there was nobody better in the rankings, then I pulled six much better names available from the list you posted and now you've moved the goalposts to assume none of them were available.

[crimsonfalcon07]

What a cop out. You started out saying there was nobody better in the rankings, then I pulled six much better names available from the list you posted and now you've moved the goalposts to assume none of them were available.

I can see how you would think that, and to that point, it's fair criticism.

That being said, I didn't say there was nobody better in the rankings. Feel free to quote me and prove that I said precisely that... I try quite hard to say exactly what I mean, and mean what I say, so let's see what you come up with...

Here's what I actually said: "he's required to only fight boxers ranked in the top 15 by the IBF", which is true and that "Mateusz Masternak is higher ranked at #4 but not any more casual-friendly, and he's also 37 and has 6 losses. The haters would crap all over that too". I stand by that. There's numerous aspects of the majority of the "better names" that are ranked higher in the IBF that people would have all kinds of issues with, and none would be any more casual-friendly. Those were the "goalposts" I set. If you felt called out by that, I wasn't trying to single you out in particular.

YOU then assumed that he didn't even ask the six you named, and I said "I'm not going to give him flak when we don't know who got sent offers, and when I do know that IBF has strict rules about who he can fight as a voluntary.". If you want to, that's your business. But you're misrepresenting me, and I'm allowed to refuse to call him out for ducking guys when I don't know if they got sent offers, and he's apparently said in interviews he tried to get better fights and got declined. I don't know the truth one way or another, and I generally try to avoid making judgments when I don't know relevant facts. But he's well within his rights to fight anyone ranked in the top 15 by the IBF, and if you don't like the quality of the IBF rankings, those aren't up to Opetaia.

[famicommander]

I can see how you would think that, and to that point, it's fair criticism.

That being said, I didn't say there was nobody better in the rankings. Feel free to quote me and prove that I said precisely that... I try quite hard to say exactly what I mean, and mean what I say, so let's see what you come up with...

Here's what I actually said: "he's required to only fight boxers ranked in the top 15 by the IBF", which is true and that "Mateusz Masternak is higher ranked at #4 but not any more casual-friendly, and he's also 37 and has 6 losses. The haters would crap all over that too". I stand by that. There's numerous aspects of the majority of the "better names" that are ranked higher in the IBF that people would have all kinds of issues with, and none would be any more casual-friendly. Those were the "goalposts" I set. If you felt called out by that, I wasn't trying to single you out in particular.

YOU then assumed that he didn't even ask the six you named, and I said "I'm not going to give him flak when we don't know who got sent offers, and when I do know that IBF has strict rules about who he can fight as a voluntary.". If you want to, that's your business. But you're misrepresenting me, and I'm allowed to refuse to call him out for ducking guys when I don't know if they got sent offers, and he's apparently said in interviews he tried to get better fights and got declined. I don't know the truth one way or another, and I generally try to avoid making judgments when I don't know relevant facts. But he's well within his rights to fight anyone ranked in the top 15 by the IBF, and if you don't like the quality of the IBF rankings, those aren't up to Opetaia.

He picked the absolute softest name in the entire IBF top 15. Not only is he not ranked by any of the journalistic outlets (TBRB, Ring, ESPN), he's not even ranked by the WBC, WBO, or WBA either. BoxRec has him #61.

No excuses. I realize the IBF is terrible and I'm not defending them as an organization. I thought it was insane to trip him the last time around. But at some point Jai has to take responsibility for his own quality of opposition. He has two excellent wins over Briedis which makes him the rightful champion of the division, but otherwise his resume is straight up garbage.

And Masternatk would ABSOLUTELY be more casual-friendly. He challenged Chris Billam-Smith for a world title, he fought Yuniel Dorticos in the World Boxing Super Series, he fought Tony Bellew. He's fought in Poland, the US six times, the UK twice, France, Monaco, Germany nine times, Russia, South Africa, and Denmark three times.

Cieslak has challenged both Okolie and Makabu for cruiserweight world titles as well.

Squeo has fought nobody of note and never fought outside Italy. It's a flagrant cherry pick. He's the worst fighter Opetaia could possibly pick without being stripped of the belt.