Comments Thread For: Jai Opetaia ends mismatch with Claudio Squeo in round five

[BoxingUpdates]

Jai Opetaia did what he had to do against Claudio Squeo, but already we are thinking about what's next, writes Elliot Worsell.
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[famicommander]

You can accuse everyone of ducking all you want Jai, but the reality is this was the absolute worst opponent you could've selected without getting stripped of your IBF belt again.

You beat Briedis, you're the lineal champ. Now fight like it. Fight the best guy available, not the worst guy you can get away with fighting. If you can't get Zurdo it doesn't mean Squeo is acceptable.

[richardt]

Opetaia's record outside of Briedis is absolutely abysmal!

[wildman]

I think a promoter is going to have to grossly overpay any of the top cruiserweights to get any of them in the ring with him.

[Willow The Wisp]

Jai Opetaia is exciting, hard hitting and highly appealing to a savvy marketer. Anyone who has earned a top two or three rating, as he has, deserves the right to craft his own reign, so long as the deserving contenders are seen to every year.
Jai has 1,553 contenders in his division to see to, and Squeo is better than all but perhaps 20 of them, so he was perfectly qualified as an in-between challenger.


Opetaia holds a 'world title' claimant belt and like Deontay Wilder (a great example), Jai is bound ONLY to defending against the professionals who that organization accepts.

It's how this business works.

The International Boxing Federation lists the following fighters as qualified to challenge Opetaia:

Huseyin Cincara, Germany
Michal Cieslak, Poland
Chris Billam-Smith, UK
Mateusz Masternak, Poland
Umar Salamov, Russia
Roman Fres, Germany
Leonardo Mosquea, France
Aleksei Papin, Russia
Robin Sirwan Safar, USA
Yves Ngabu, Belgium
Juergen Uldeda, Albania
David Nyika, New Zealand (Defeated)
Claudio Squeo, Italy. (Defeated)
Viddal Riley, UK


You may note that active Cruiserweights that FANS might think are well qualified, such as Gilberto Ramirez, Badou Jack, Norairn Mkaeljan, Joe Smith Jr., Yuniel Dorticos, Arsen Goulamirian, Lenar Perez, Ryan Rozicki, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Mike Perez, Aloys Youmbi and Noel Mikaelyan, are, in fact, NOT qualified to challenge for the IBF title, as they are not qualified contenders for the IBF title.

It's their title, so it's their call.

Again, that's how the sport works.

Don't like it? Join those who propose to change it.

[famicommander]

Jai Opetaia is exciting, hard hitting and highly appealing to a savvy marketer. Anyone who has earned a top two or three rating, as he has, deserves the right to craft his own reign, so long as the deserving contenders are seen to every year.
Jai has 1,553 contenders in his division to see to, and Squeo is better than all but perhaps 20 of them, so he was perfectly qualified as an in-between challenger.


Opetaia holds a 'world title' claimant belt and like Deontay Wilder (a great example), Jai is bound ONLY to defending against the professionals who that organization accepts.

It's how this business works.

The International Boxing Federation lists the following fighters as qualified to challenge Opetaia:

Huseyin Cincara, Germany
Michal Cieslak, Poland
Chris Billam-Smith, UK
Mateusz Masternak, Poland
Umar Salamov, Russia
Roman Fres, Germany
Leonardo Mosquea, France
Aleksei Papin, Russia
Robin Sirwan Safar, USA
Yves Ngabu, Belgium
Juergen Uldeda, Albania
David Nyika, New Zealand (Defeated)
Claudio Squeo, Italy. (Defeated)
Viddal Riley, UK


You may note that active Cruiserweights that FANS might think are well qualified, such as Gilberto Ramirez, Badou Jack, Norairn Mkaeljan, Joe Smith Jr., Yuniel Dorticos, Arsen Goulamirian, Lenar Perez, Ryan Rozicki, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Mike Perez, Aloys Youmbi and Noel Mikaelyan, are, in fact, NOT qualified to challenge for the IBF title, as they are not qualified contenders for the IBF title.

It's their title, so it's their call.

Again, that's how the sport works.

Don't like it? Join those who propose to change it.

Literally every one of those guys from the IBF possible challengers is better than Squeo. Every single one. Considerably so, and that's reflected in the TBRB/Ring/ESPN rankings.

Opetaia sought out the absolute softest, most untested challenger he could pick without getting stripped. You can try to dress it up any other way you want but that's the reality of what happened.

[tonysoprano]

This guy needs to fight some live opponents or he’s going to be a wasted talent.

[elfag]

Jai looks great fighting tomato cans but with a gereatric Bredies he looks very ordinary.

Why do you think his promoters avoid placing him with anyone else at the top or trying to unify?

He probably gets paid pretty decent with very low risk for these bums

They are keeping him on standby in case they get a big offer from someone like beter/bivol or usky

[Coverdale]

Jai looks great fighting tomato cans but with a gereatric Bredies he looks very ordinary.

Why do you think his promoters avoid placing him with anyone else at the top or trying to unify?

Oh look, another NSB imbecile who thinks his post count is more of an achievement than a champion boxer's career.

[elfag]

Jai Opetaia is exciting, hard hitting and highly appealing to a savvy marketer. Anyone who has earned a top two or three rating, as he has, deserves the right to craft his own reign, so long as the deserving contenders are seen to every year.
Jai has 1,553 contenders in his division to see to, and Squeo is better than all but perhaps 20 of them, so he was perfectly qualified as an in-between challenger.


Opetaia holds a 'world title' claimant belt and like Deontay Wilder (a great example), Jai is bound ONLY to defending against the professionals who that organization accepts.

It's how this business works.

The International Boxing Federation lists the following fighters as qualified to challenge Opetaia:

Huseyin Cincara, Germany
Michal Cieslak, Poland
Chris Billam-Smith, UK
Mateusz Masternak, Poland
Umar Salamov, Russia
Roman Fres, Germany
Leonardo Mosquea, France
Aleksei Papin, Russia
Robin Sirwan Safar, USA
Yves Ngabu, Belgium
Juergen Uldeda, Albania
David Nyika, New Zealand (Defeated)
Claudio Squeo, Italy. (Defeated)
Viddal Riley, UK


You may note that active Cruiserweights that FANS might think are well qualified, such as Gilberto Ramirez, Badou Jack, Norairn Mkaeljan, Joe Smith Jr., Yuniel Dorticos, Arsen Goulamirian, Lenar Perez, Ryan Rozicki, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Mike Perez, Aloys Youmbi and Noel Mikaelyan, are, in fact, NOT qualified to challenge for the IBF title, as they are not qualified contenders for the IBF title.

It's their title, so it's their call.

Again, that's how the sport works.

Don't like it? Join those who propose to change it.

IBF is straight trash, that they have random french bakers and albanian lyft drivers on their title challenger list but not the top names is criminal.

I have attempted to get friends into boxing and they all end up just watching UFC and I cant blame them because the matches are better made and more exciting