Jai Opetaia in Talks to Fight Deontay Wilder on Fury vs Joshua Card
Cruiserweight champ Jai Opetaia is in active talks to jump to heavyweight and face Deontay Wilder in Cardiff on December 11.
Jai Opetaia is eyeing a massive jump to heavyweight.
The cruiserweight champion is in active talks to face Deontay Wilder on the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua card in Cardiff on December 11, per Mike Coppinger of The Ring. The event will stream globally on Netflix. Nothing is official yet, but the conversations are happening.
Opetaia has cleaned out the cruiserweight division and clearly wants to test himself at the highest level. Moving from 200 pounds to heavyweight against a former champion with knockout power in both hands is the kind of risk that separates the great ones from the safe ones.
Wilder has been on a rough stretch. His recent performances against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang showed a fighter who looked hesitant and a step slower than the version who terrorized the division for years. Still, writing off Wilder's right hand is the kind of mistake fighters make once.
The Fury vs. Joshua card in Cardiff is shaping up to be one of the biggest boxing events of the year, and adding Opetaia vs. Wilder to the undercard would give it even more firepower. A cruiserweight stepping up to face a former heavyweight champion on a Netflix main event is exactly the kind of spectacle the sport needs heading into December.
This is the kind of fight that makes you sit up and pay attention. Opetaia has nothing left to prove at cruiserweight and everything to gain at heavyweight, even if it goes sideways. That takes guts. Wilder is the perfect opponent for this, too. He is dangerous enough to make the jump meaningful but compromised enough that Opetaia has a real path to winning. If Opetaia can avoid the right hand and work behind his jab, his combination punching should give Wilder fits.
The bigger picture here is what a win does for Opetaia. Beat a former heavyweight champion on the Fury vs. Joshua undercard, on Netflix, and suddenly you are a name at 200 and 225. David Benavidez is already eyeing him for Cinco de Mayo. The cruiserweight division is about to become the most interesting weight class in boxing, and Opetaia is the reason why.
