Jai Opetaia had barely finished dismantling Noel Mikaelian before attention turned towards what could become one of the most fascinating fights boxing can make.
David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia.
Not because a sanctioning body ordered it. Not because months of insults have created an artificial rivalry. Not because either man appears to have decided the other represents the easiest route to another belt.
Quite the opposite.
David Benavidez looked at one of the most dangerous fighters in boxing and effectively said: that’s the man I want.
After Opetaia stopped Mikaelian in the ninth round in Las Vegas, Benavidez joined him in the ring and the pair discussed meeting in May 2027.
Nothing is signed yet. Boxing fans should know better than anybody that an agreement inside a ring and two signatures on a contract are very different things.
But perhaps David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia has already given boxing something it has been missing.
Two elite fighters apparently looking at danger and running towards it.
Opetaia Has Become the Man Nobody Should Want
The strange thing about modern boxing is that describing somebody as a “bogeyman” can almost become an excuse for everybody else to avoid him.
Jai Opetaia has developed exactly that sort of reputation at cruiserweight.
He’s unbeaten, aggressive, technically excellent and increasingly destructive. Mikaelian became the latest fighter unable to find an answer when Opetaia stopped him in the ninth round.
He is exactly the sort of opponent a carefully managed fighter might be advised to avoid.
David Benavidez sees things differently.
Benavidez has described Opetaia as the cruiserweight division’s “bogeyman”, but rather than treating that reputation as a warning sign, he appears to view it as an invitation.
That mentality matters.
Because if somebody is supposedly the man nobody wants to fight, shouldn’t beating him be one of the best ways of proving how good you really are?
When Did Being Dangerous Become a Reason Not to Fight?
Boxing has always involved business.
Let’s not pretend there was some mythical period where promoters ignored money, fighters accepted every challenge put in front of them and politics never prevented the best fights.
That version of boxing never existed.
But something has changed.
We’ve become increasingly accustomed to discussions about why fights cannot happen.
Wrong promoter.
Wrong broadcaster.
Wrong sanctioning body.
Wrong financial split.
Too much risk.
Not enough reward.
Wait another year.
Let it “marinate”.
Sometimes those reasons are legitimate. Often they’re understandable from a fighter’s perspective.
But somewhere along the way, boxing became far too comfortable with the idea that an opponent being extremely dangerous was a perfectly sensible reason not to fight him.
Surely that should be backwards.
If you’re claiming to be the best fighter in a division, the presence of another fighter everybody fears shouldn’t make you look for the exit.
It should make you want his name on your record.
David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia Is About More Than Belts
There will inevitably be championships involved if David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia happens.
But that’s not what makes this potential fight interesting to me.
It’s the question behind it.
Who is actually better?
Benavidez has already spent much of his career being treated as a dangerous proposition himself.
For years, he was the fighter boxing fans wanted to see tested against the biggest names around him. He built a reputation through pressure, volume, physicality and the feeling that eventually he would force opponents into places they didn’t want to go.
Then he moved up.
Instead of protecting an unbeaten record by finding comfortable opposition, Benavidez has continued looking upwards.
Now he’s staring at Opetaia.
That’s what makes this different.
One supposed bogeyman has found another.
Rather than arguing over who deserves to be called the more dangerous fighter, there’s a remarkably simple solution available.
Put them in a ring together.
This Is How Boxing Should Decide Who Is Best
Boxing spends an extraordinary amount of time telling us who the best fighters are without necessarily making them prove it against each other.
We have pound-for-pound rankings.
We have sanctioning-body rankings.
We have promotional claims.
We have undefeated records.
We have multiple champions.
We have fans arguing endlessly on social media.
Eventually, none of it should matter.
The ring is supposed to provide the answer.
That’s why David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia feels refreshing before we’ve even reached the negotiating table.
Opetaia wants to establish himself beyond doubt.
Benavidez apparently wants to find out whether the reputation surrounding Opetaia is justified.
That’s boxing.
Not protecting the zero.
Not waiting until somebody gets old.
Not spending three years building a fight until half the excitement has disappeared.
Find the other bloke people think might beat you.
Fight him.
Then we’ll know.
There Is Still Plenty That Could Go Wrong
Of course, this is boxing.
So nobody should start booking flights to Las Vegas just yet.
A verbal agreement for May 2027 isn’t a contract.
Benavidez has another fight expected before then, while promotional arrangements and the increasingly complicated politics surrounding elite boxing still have to be navigated.
Plenty can change between September and next May.
We’ve seen apparently obvious fights collapse before.
We’ve seen fighters shake hands, call each other out and insist publicly that they want a fight only for negotiations to disappear into boxing’s political black hole.
So David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia isn’t done until both men are standing in opposite corners.
But that’s almost secondary to the point I’m making.
I don’t want to praise fighters simply for saying they’ll fight each other.
That should be the minimum requirement at this level.
What deserves praise is the mentality behind choosing the opponent.
Stop Treating the Bogeyman Like Someone to Avoid
Imagine if boxing’s attitude changed.
Imagine if being labelled the division’s bogeyman didn’t make somebody commercially inconvenient but instead put a target on their back.
You think he’s unbeatable?
Fine.
I’ll fight him.
You think nobody wants him?
I do.
You think he’s the best?
Let me prove you wrong.
That should be the mentality at the highest level of boxing.
There will always be mandatory challengers, financial considerations and promotional politics. Fighters have short careers and understandably want to maximise what they earn from them.
But greatness has to involve risk somewhere.
You cannot spend an entire career telling everybody you’re the best while carefully avoiding the fights most likely to prove otherwise.
At some point, somebody has to ask the question inside the ring.
David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia Could Set the Right Example
I’m not declaring David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia the saviour of boxing.
It hasn’t even been signed.
But I love what the potential fight represents.
Two unbeaten elite fighters.
Two men with frightening reputations.
Two fighters who could quite reasonably look elsewhere and continue making very good money.
Instead, they appear interested in each other precisely because the other man represents danger.
Boxing needs more of that.
Maybe Benavidez discovers that Opetaia really is the cruiserweight bogeyman.
Maybe Opetaia discovers that the Mexican Monster is even more dangerous at 200lbs than anyone expected.
Maybe one of them makes the other look ordinary.
That’s the beauty of it.
We don’t know.
And boxing is at its best when the only honest way to find out is to put two exceptional fighters in the same ring.
Being called the best shouldn’t be enough.
Being undefeated shouldn’t be enough.
Collecting belts shouldn’t be enough.
If another fighter is supposedly the man nobody wants to face, don’t use his reputation as the reason to avoid him.
Fight the bogeyman and find out.
What Do You Think?
Is David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia exactly the sort of fight boxing has been missing, or are we getting excited before there is even a contract on the table?
Would you rather see fighters actively chase the most dangerous opponent available, even if it means putting an undefeated record or future payday at risk?
Share this article, leave your thoughts in the comments and tell me who you think wins if Benavidez and Opetaia finally meet in 2027.
And for more boxing opinion, analysis, fighter features and discussion without the usual hype, keep reading CMBoxing.