Chris Billiam-Smith says IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia is not the next Oleksandr Usyk as some fans have been saying. He says he has never prioritized Aussie Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) and feels that “made by humans” in his last fight with 39-year-old Mairis Briedis.
It’s not clear who has been saying Opetaia is the next Usyk, as Australia’s opposition was so poor that he took on the aging Briedis. The opposition against Opetaia was low level guys like Elias Zorro, Mark Flanagan, and Jordan Thompson.
Usyk On Another Level
Casual fans may casually label Opetaia as the next Usyk, but fans who know the sport see him as a product of soft matchmaking. He has been battling unfavorable opposition throughout his nine-year career. Usyk is the gold standard of what a cruiserweight should be, and Opetaia falls far short of that mark. He is above the brass variety.
There is no comparison to the talent of Oleksandr Usyk when he fought at cruiserweight against Opertaia. Usyk could do it all, showing incredible skills and beating quality opposition. In contrast, Opetaia only fought one opponent during his entire career, and that was an older version of Briedis.
The first fight between them made Opetaia look better than him because Briedis was out of work for a long time. In the second fight last May, Briedis exposed Opetaia, putting him under constant pressure, showing that he does not take punishment well.
Opetaia looked scared, dealing with the pressure, with a cut on her mouth, and with the fire coming from Briedis. The fight showed that Opetaia is not cut out for fighting and prefers to stay outside, throwing potshots.
In their rematch in Riyadh, Opetaia looked like a bigger version of Shakur Stevenson against Briedis, and it was a real eye-opener.
Opetaia defends his IBF cruiserweight title against newly minted Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KOs) on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on October 12 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This is another example of Opetaia fighting a smaller fighter instead of a capable cruiserweight. It is surprising that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh did not insist that Opetaia fight a talented person to be at the October 12 event.
“You are incredibly talented, Opetaia. He does many things very well. He has fast hands, good feet, good shot selection, he can also punch,” Chris Billiam-Smith told Secondsout about IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.
“I think people who say he is like the next Usyk, I don’t agree with him. “I think Usyk is a much better fighter than Opetaia,” said Billiam-Smith. “I think Briedis had a long time before the first fight [with Opetaia] and he had a long run in the second fight, coming towards the end of his career, but he showed glimpses of what you can do.”
Opetaia is a one-sided, one-trick pony who only throws potshots and doesn’t like to take hard shots in her fights. Again, he only fought one top fighter during his entire career, Briedis, and he didn’t look good in their second bout.
Currently, Opetaia should already be fighting these cruiserweights:
– Chris Billiam-Smith
– Richard Riakporhe
– Lawrence Okolie
– Isaac Chamberlain
– Gilberto Ramirez
– Noel Mikaelyan
“I think hman-made Opetaia about the hype. For me, I see fighters for what they are. “I think Opetaia is an amazing fighter, but I never agreed that she was unbeatable,” said Billiam-Smith.
It was clear over the years that Opetaia was compared to sideline opponents, and it was surprising that it was only now that he hit 30 that his management finally brought him up briefly against good opposition in his clash with Briedis. However, now they’re bringing him back to the same weak match by having him face Massey.
“He is an amazing champion; “Briedis was a great player but he has a mountain to climb,” said Billiam-Smith. He knew that, that’s why he retired. He probably had no match for him. He had many hard battles. He had two Super Series back to back.
“Obviously, he lost to Usyk in the first and won the second [against Yuniel Dorticos]. He’s had some tough fights back then and he’s boxed everybody over the years, and that’s going to take it out on you.
“I’ve been to the training camps, and I think he’s gone through the training camps. He had three spars a week, 15 rounds sometimes. You don’t get the best laps in those 15 laps. “He was just going through them,” Billiam-Smith said of Briedis.
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