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.
I hear you. Papin hasn't fought since October I think, and he'd be a good scrap too. Let's see who he fights next, eh? If he makes a trend of soft touches instead of unifications, I'll be on board with you. Right now, he's got some excuses, but we'll see what happens when Zurdo and Badou Jack clear their mandatories. It's a shame that he's not getting his mandatory out of the way, but it's not Jai's fault that Cinkara broke his ankle.
Comment